Blood Ties Blood Bond
by by xandria
Summary: With Vicky torn between her feelings for Henry and Mike, a new girl walks into town claiming to need help but brings magic, demons, witchs and vampires with her. Can Vicky trust her? Or does she have a darker purpose for seeking out this PI? pre deep dark
1. Chapter 1

Henry and Vicki pt

Henry and Vicki pt. 1

Okay, forage into fan fiction! Here we go...

Henry woke like he always did, immediately and instantly going from the dreamless void that was the day into complete awareness of the night and his surroundings. For just an instant every time his vampire senses overwhelmed him in waking, smells from the building-the cleaners used on the carpeting in the hallways, the odors of foods being cooked and sounds of the night outside. But his control, gained over centuries of practice asserted itself practically before he was aware of it and it all faded into the background again.

He lay for a moment thinking of Vicky. After tens of hundreds of years he thought he had forgotten what fear was like, but she made him feel it again, almost as deep and visceral and primal as his vampire nature, whenever she did something completely stupid. He thought again of that moment when he burst into the apartment and found Asteroth reaching for her, the marks burning on her hands and her blood split across the alter. He almost hadn't been in time. And he knew that it was only the beginning. Asteroth would be back, was always waiting for another chance to enter into this plane and make all mortals subjects and slaves to his will. And Vicky would always be tied to him now, always in danger, and always a threat.

And if that wasn't enough, if that wasn't all, there was her irritating habit of charging head first into danger totally unprepared and alone every time a client needed help.

He knew she'd be calling soon, asking for help on yet another of her mysterious "supernatural" cases. He smiled at the word thinking how intriguing it was for him to be assisting her with this. It was getting harder to refuse though, he'd finally found someone who he couldn't just thrall into submission. And that was a very attractive quality. He'd gone centuries doing whatever it was he wanted and making people forget afterwards. There was a certain challenge in courting a woman the old fashioned way. And yes, she would be calling soon. Henry slid out of bed, stretching before pulling on black trousers and a shirt, grabbing his coat, keys and cellphone still in the pocket from last night. He glanced briefly at his newest work, pages of text and illustration scattered all over the table. Even to his eye all of the prototypes for his heroine resembled Vicky, he'd even been so bold as to draw eye glasses on one of them. He'd have to work on it later though, right now the night was calling and with Vicky soon to follow he had business to attend to before he saw her.

He found them easily enough, there were always people that wandered at the edges of society and sometimes got lost in the cracks. The people that most ignored as they walked by or if not threw a few spare change worth of coins and walked away. As a rule Henry usually avoided them as well, but they were practical and he had very little time to spare for slowly seducing his prey tonight.

He sniffed taking in the scents surrounding him and making his choice like a connoisseur at a wine tasting smelling corks. Discard the drug addicts, he had learned very early that drugs in the blood stream of his victims could affect him as well. The homeless were generally too weak and infirm to sustain the blood loss, so they were out also. Which left only a few, prostitutes were always an option and they frequented the street corners at night, but Henry felt guilty using them-even if only for blood- and not offering the traditional compensation and he didn't have more then a few dollars on him. Money usually wasn't a problem he had to remember.

Couples and groups of people were generally not a good idea unless he was desperate, which left people out alone.

He scanned the street, standing casually leaning against the front entrance to his apartment building like he was waiting for a cab. Then he caught sight of her, she was waiting at the corner to cross into Queen's park. In the midst of a crowd of rowdy University students he had almost dismissed her but something had caught his eye and held it long enough for him to realize that she was, in fact, alone. The light had changed and she was walking quickly across, breaking away from the crowd on the opposite side and heading for the park. Almost without thinking Henry followed her.

It was too easy he thought as she walked deeper into the park. The lamps were spaced far apart with large areas of darkness in between and plenty of trees and greenery for cover. Anyone who might happen to walk along would only see two young lovers exploring the night and each other under the trees.

The girl walked straight along the paved path, looking neither left nor right, never showing any hesitation when confronted with the darkness. Henry frowned and began to wonder about her sanity. Surely, he thought, what sort of woman would enter a park, alone and at night? Especially after all the recent press about the "cult" murders surrounding Asteroth's calling. He really should see her safely to the subway station on the other side...You're getting soft Fitzroy! he thought, spending too much time with mortal women with a penchant for getting themselves into dangerous situations and you start seeing her everywhere.

In truth this girl looked almost nothing like Vicky. Where Vicky seemed touched with gold in her hair and skin, the girl before him was almost striking in her paleness the dark hair that was twisted up in a clip only serving to accentuate it. The only thing they had in common was a curve filled and athletic figure.

While he mulled on their similarities and differences, she paused for the first time, eyes searching the surrounding trees before continuing on at a slower pace. Henry paused as well, confused with her sudden change in behaviour and inhaled sharply looking for what might have distracted her, possibly an animal in the bushes or someone approaching. There was nothing. But even while his senses were telling him that they were, for all his purposes, still alone, he couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't. A chill seeped into him and he quickened his pace to bring him closer to the girl.

Suddenly the next lamp in front of her was doused and the pool of darkness spread almost to her feet. The light hadn't flickered like it would if the bulb or power had failed, but had just gone out as if it had never existed at all. Henry had had enough and was about to step out of the shadows himself and escort her to the other side of the park when he felt something powerful collesquesking in the darkness of the now dead street lamp. The girl dropped a hand inside her pocket, but instead of stepping back into the relative safety of the light, took a step forward closer to the darkness and the danger that Henry could feel building inside it by the minute. Cursing all females who thought they could face down the supernatural with a can of mace-or a night stick for that matter- Henry sprang forward faster then sight until he was right beside her.

"Be silent and don't move." Henry whispered to her, hand around her throat, or rather the dark turtleneck that hid her throat, his vampire powers ensuring her complete compliance. He turned to face whatever was in that darkness just as it sprang for him full of claws that could easily rip apart anything alive.

The claws gouged deep into his flesh, tearing inch deep furrows across his chest. Henry exposed his fangs, his own nails growing into claws as he reached for the thing that had attacked him. His hands closed around something insubstantial before it seemed to melt out from between his grasping fingers. He snarled and jumped only to find himself caught from behind, claws ripping into his sides and sending him crashing into the bench that sat underneath the lighted lamp. Blood coating his torso Henry raised himself up from the pile of splintered wood and crouched between the darkness and girl, ready to defend them but unsure of what exactly it was he was facing.

A heart beat passed, then another. Henry crept towards the darkness, wary and feeling the toll the blood loss was taking on him but unwilling to let this creature go. It slashed out again, but this time he was ready and fast enough to avoid it. He caught the reaching arm pulling it towards him while sweeping his other hand, nails extended towards its throat. The demon's arm elongated, stretching so that it's body was out of harms way and Henry again felt the solid arm he had a hold of sliding and slipping out of his fingers. The demon was darkness, darker even then the night that surrounded it. It had once taken over the body of a man but its evil had burned it away from the inside out, only traces of its former inhabitance remained-skin flapping from around shadowed shoulders, and the remnants of bones protruding out from it's appendages when it tried to shift shapes. The only constant was the eyes that looked out with hate, following Henry's movements.

Without warning it attacked again, Henry jumped away only to be caught by it's other hand, spearing him with it's claws, now grown to talon length and using them to toss him away. He landed a few feet from where the girl still stood, frozen with fear and his command not to move. He tried to get up, but his blood was pooling beneath him and he knew that he was too weak.

"Run" he managed to whisper with the last of his strength, hoping it would be enough to at least release her from his thrall and help her reach the comparative safety of the street behind them. There was always the possibility that the creature would stay to finish him off rather then chase her to attain a new host. He knew it was unlikely in the extreme but he still had to try to save her.

He breathed in relief as he watched her move, but the feeling was quickly replaced with fear and, if he was honest, a slight amount of annoyance when she knelt beside him rather then running for her life.

"You seem to be in a bit of a pickle" she said, casually. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to bite off more then you can chew?"

And with that she turned away from him and towards the darkness and the demon that lurked within waiting for her.

Henry was wavering between fear for both himself and the unknown woman and an intense need to shake some sense into her! She'd seen what it was as well as he had, and she'd witnessed his own immortal strength and abilities be defeated by it and yet she still refused to save herself! The fact that it was exactly what Vicky would have done did very little to improve his temper.

"Run!" he tried again, attempting to put all of his power behind the single word to force her compliance. It should have worked too but instead she motioned him to be quiet and stood up.

The girl stepped forwards slowly until her toes were just touching the edge of the darkness. Hand still in her pocket she waited unmoving and undeterred. Henry saw it move within the darkness, a slow slithering towards her that she could never hope to see with mortal eyes. He watched as it crouched, readying itself for the kill and then sprang forward, just as it had with him, claws extended ready to rip into her innocent flesh. Unable to help himself Henry closed his eyes, unwilling to watch her die because of his failure.

He waited for her scream. But instead what he heard was a totally unmortal like howl. His eyes flipped open, immediately focusing on his surroundings but it took a minute before his brain believed the there wasn't a dark haired girl lying in blood before him.

The girl still stood, facing the demon that was ensnared in a net that looked like it was made of strands of light. It was fighting desperately to be free, twisting and reshaping, and to Henry's horror slowly but surely working it's way out of the net. The girl watched, unconcerned, a knife in one hand the other sketching symbols that took forms Henry knew, magical runes for binding and containment shining blue white against the dark. The demon ripped free from the last of the netting, having disgorged what was left of its human body in the process and rushed at the girl again. Faster then Henry would have believed possible for a mortal she dodged, plunging the knife in a deep score along it's side as she dived and rolled to a standing position again. The creature howled, more from fury then pain and charged towards her. She stood waiting and Henry had to fight the urge to close his eyes again as she threw the knife-a practiced motion-into what would have been the chest of the demon. It staggered briefly, but recovered and rushed forwards again even more determined to kill her now. As it jumped, clawed arms extended for her throat it was suddenly caught in mid-air, the runes of the now finished binding spell swirling around it, forcing it smaller and smaller. Henry hadn't registered the continual movement of her left hand in sketching the spell while she fought-apparently only buying time until she could complete it. The demon screamed, enraged and in fear for the first time as it was forced back in on itself until it was a swirling mass of pure blackness ringed by binding marks too bright to look at. The girl walked past it and reaching over Henry grabbed her bag from the ground rooting around inside it much like a woman looking for that ever elusive lip stick or cell phone. What she pulled out however was neither of these, and as she turned Henry saw a clear crystal balanced on her palm. The edges were sharp and her fingers were bleeding where they gripped the stone. She traced one final rune in the air, this one shining red with her own blood and pulsing while the demon was forced forwards and into the crystal by the other marks. It was pulled inside, the final rune settling over the now black crystal turning it from a swirling angry darkness to a very normal looking opaque piece of what looked a lot like charcoal.

Henry watched in frustration as the girl slipped the stone into her pocket and turned to look at him. She had just captured a demon and entrapped it in that stone with magic, something that Henry despised. But worse then the use of dark magic to save his life-again- was the fact that she now possessed this demon and could release it whenever she choose. There were very few people that Henry would feel safe having that power and this unknown young girl was definitely not one of them.

She walked around Henry, still lying bleeding on the ground and slung her bag over her shoulder. She knelt down beside him, looking him over as if deciding his fate, which was exactly what she was doing. Without blood Henry wouldn't last the next few minutes and he could barely move, so unless some good Samaritan happened along who felt like being a blood donor she was his only hope.

"What's your name?" She asked. Henry stared up at her in total incomprehension. He had expected recriminations, fear and denial, for even people who appeared calm when confronted with demons might not be as accepting of a vampire.

He gathered his strength and managed to produce the two syllables of "Henry" with effort.

"Well, Henry, do you make it a nightly occurrence to stalk women through parks with the intent of feeding on them, only to turn around and go all knight in shining armor-ish and try to save them from a demon instead?" There was a smile that accompanied this question but Henry noticed that it never quite reached her eyes. He couldn't answer even if he'd wanted too, giving his name had drained what remained of his strength, so he only lay there helpless looking up at her with what he hoped was the look of someone worth saving.  
In any case he was spared the trouble of answering when his phone rang. Looking mildly surprised the girl reached over him and into his coat pocket pulling out the phone. She stared at it for a moment before flipping it open.

"Henry?" It was Vicky's voice on the phone, and even in his weakened state he could hear her clearly.

The girl didn't answer.

"Henry, are you there? I need your help, something's come up. Henry?"

The girl looked down at him, clearly reading the worry and frustration in his eyes at her intrusion into his privacy.

"I'm afraid that Henry's unable to talk right now..." a glance at the caller id "...Vicky"

"Who is this? Where is Henry? What's happened?"

Another glance at him before the girl answered "He and I ran into a bit of trouble in Queen's Park. I'm sure if you know Henry then you'll know the nature of this trouble. He needs your help. East side, near the fountain." And with that the girl hung up the phone and carefully replaced it in his jacket pocket.

"Even if your _friend_" sarcasm in the word "lives around here I still doubt that you'll be able to wait for her." A pause, then "Am I wrong?"

The question was clearly rhetorical, but Henry managed to shake his head 'no' anyways. He had to regain his strength before Vicky came, once again charging into danger on his behalf, and right now that meant convincing this girl that he needed blood immediately. Something that wasn't hard to do since it wasn't far from the truth. The girl was powerful and he didn't want her near Vicky when he was unable to fight.

She looked around as if considering her options, appearing to have all the time in the world while Henry lay bleeding before her.

Finally she sighed and reached into her bag pulling out a pocket knife, smaller and more functional then the knife she's used against the demon. Henry briefly wondered how many she had hidden away on her person. She looked at him one more time, before rolling up her jacket sleeve to expose the thin wrist and blue veins beneath. Henry could feel his teeth lengthening in his mouth and he couldn't take his eyes off her wrist. He knew that he probably looked like every monster movie vampire image ever produced right now, eyes burning, fangs sharp, skin white and pulled from lack of blood, and he could only pray that it didn't make her condemn him.

"I'll probably regret this in the morning" she said, and plunged the knife into her skin, slitting a two inch gash through the main veins from wrist to elbow.

Henry's lips closed over the wound, his mouth immediately filling with sweet hot liquid that burned as it restored his strength. Maybe it was just that he was so weakened and drained but he felt the rush hard, euphoria and strength flooding his body with the first few mouthfuls. He closed his eyes in ecstasy, letting the feeling rush through his body which hardened in response. His hand came up automatically to hold the girls wrist to his mouth, his fingertips brushed amazingly soft skin and he smelled the scent of vanilla briefly before she pulled away.

His eyes flew open as he rolled towards her, his arm outstretched to hold her to him but she easily alluded his grasp.

"Sorry, but this isn't an all you can eat buffet" She looked him over, scrutinizing him while he collapsed back to the ground, exhausted after so small a movement.

"I'm sure you'll last until you're friend gets here now, and from the sounds of it, she'll be more then happy to assist you."

She stood up, looking down on him one last time, straightening her bag over her shoulder and tying a strip of cloth around her wrist. Henry's eyes were caught by it and drawn to the blood that had soaked into her jacket cuff. He couldn't help the small flicker of his tongue along his lips as he remembered the feel of her skin against his mouth and the taste of her.

"Besides" she said "I'm not so sure that it's a good idea for you to be at full strength yet, I mean after all- we are still alone, in a dark park at night, and you're still a vampire who came here with the intention of sucking my blood" teasing in the words even though she was frowning.

She turned looking toward the subway station that was just visible father along the path on the other side of the fountain, and stepped away from him.

"Wait" Henry gasped, pushing himself into a sitting position. "What's your name?" She had defeated a demon in this park using very advanced dark magic and still held it captive within a crystal and he had no idea what she might plan to use it for. He didn't believe that she'd come her accidentally any more, she knew what he was and that he'd been following her, plus she was too prepared for that demon. She either lured him here with the intent to destroy him, or was coming here to trap the demon-in which case she had succeeded. He couldn't afford to let her go without knowing how to find her again.

She was a few feet away by now, but turned back and regarded him carefully. He almost thought she wasn't going to answer and knew that he wasn't strong enough to force her, even if his powers worked on her, which he was also being to doubt. Just when he couldn't stand it anymore and slumped back onto his side she answered:

"Jay"

He heard footsteps approaching, far off yet but coming closer and opened his eyes seeing a light bobbing through the trees.

"Henry?" A voice called. Vicky's voice. His heart beat sped up and he looked again to where the girl was only to find that she was gone. He lay back, content for the moment to wait for Vicky, even if it might be awhile-she wasn't always that good at locating things in the dark and he'd probably be lucky if she didn't trip over him. He thought back over his encounter with the girl this evening-Jay, she said her name was jay he reminded himself- looking for clues as to how he could find her. He wasn't worried however, now he had her name and the scent of her blood he'd be able to find her anywhere in this city, might take some time, but he had all the time in the world.


	2. Chapter 2

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt 2

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt 2.

Vicky helped Henry into her office, carefully stealing glances at him out of the corner of her eyes while he eased out of her arms and onto the couch. He still looked far too pale and his wounds, while no longer bleeding were still ugly gashes visible through the tears in his shirt. She'd given him blood immediately in the darkness of the park but he'd only taken enough to get him here. Vicky knew that he still hadn't forgiven her for doing magic using his blood, even if it was to save his life. It had changed something between them and she had no idea how to overcome it, or even if they could.

Henry sighed and looked up at her "So what's this new case about?" Even weakened he'd observed that little frown line forming between Vicky's brows when she looked at him and he knew that if he didn't distract her soon, she'd insist that he take more of her blood, an offer that he wasn't at all sure if he could refuse. By sitting on the couch he had most of the room between them, but he could still hear her heartbeat loud in his ears and see her throat move with every breath.

"I don't think that's important right now Henry," Vicky said, leaning against the corner of the desk. "You were just attacked tonight by some unknown demon, and a...a what? ...witch? _and you want to talk about my case?"_

"I think the currently popular term is 'wiccan' actually" Henry smiled, but Vicky wasn't fooled.

"That's not the point. We don't know if they were working together, what they're after...What exactly happened Henry?" When she'd first found him, Henry hadn't been in any position to explain anything and he hadn't been particularly forthcoming since.

Vicky couldn't get that image of him out of her head. She'd seen him injured before, badly injured but he'd always healed after he'd fed. Tonight the raw gashes across his chest were evidence that he could be seriously hurt. That even immortal vampires could die, or be killed-a fact that she was trying hard to avoid thinking about, almost as much as she was avoiding thinking about the wrenching pain she'd felt when she saw him looking broken and bleeding on the ground.

"There's really nothing to be done about it until tomorrow, so why not tell me about this 'special' case of yours?"

Vicky sighed resigned. She knew that there wasn't much that she could do to get Henry to talk if he chose not to and she was a little afraid to push the point. They had a very tenuous truce going on, and she didn't know if breaking it would help them work through things or make her loose him forever.

"It's actually something that Mike asked me...us...to look into." She hated bringing up Mike when things were already so tense between them, but it was the truth and Henry wasn't dumb, he'd had hundreds of years to hone his investigative skills after all, he would eventually realize that her former partner-and ex-lover-was involved. Better to have it all out in the open.

"Ah-and how is Detective Celluci?"

Vicky rolled her eyes, wondering if being obnoxious was a trait that men ever grew out of and continued.

"He's not exactly happy about this situation either, but they've got no leads and everything keeps turning up...well, strange." Vicky had noticed Mike pulling away from her lately too, which even though they weren't partners anymore, weren't lovers anymore, it still hurt to watch him turning to someone else and cutting her out of his life. They'd said they'd stay friends and they had, until recently.

Vicky glanced at Henry. Everything had changed lately.

"There've been all sorts of strange reports coming in, people going missing and then turning up days later murdered, animals are being killed and dumped. It all points to a serial killer, except for one thing. They're all drained of blood. Completely."

Henry sat up, his attention suddenly focused and clear despite his injuries. "Any marks on the bodies? Bites or scratches?" He would know instinctively if there was another vampire on his territory, but even the appearance of vampires had gotten him in trouble in the past. And if the media picked up the story of vampires stalking the streets of Toronto, especially so soon after last time, things could quickly escalate into a frenzy. He didn't fancy the idea of being chased out of town by fanatical hordes of people waving stakes and torches. Better to be on the safe side and investigate it thoroughly even if it did just turn out to be some run of the mill mortal murderer.

"None that Dr. Mohadevan can find. But there's also no evidence of how the blood was drained either. They turn up without so much as a hangnail, even the animals."

Vicky watched Henry lean back into the couch, his thoughts turned inwards, completely focused on the case. Sometimes she thought it would have been easier if after that first case together they'd said goodbye and gone their separate ways. She wouldn't have been pulled into this world of supernatural beings and witches who hunt demons-and possibly vampires-in darkened parks at night. But then she would never have gotten to know Henry, to care for him, and-she told herself resolutely- he **is** a good partner. Especially with how strange all her cases were turning out lately.

As the silence grew Vicky found her thoughts turning from the man in front of her to the one who called earlier this evening, at his wits end and having no where else to turn- and hating the fact. She could well understand why Mike was trying to untangle himself from this supernatural disaster waiting to happen. She understood the measures he'd taken to cover up their secrets, the reports he'd fudged and facts he'd left out. It was hard for an honest cop to continue to do that and not have it weight on their conscience. She just wished that it didn't mean that he was trying to distance himself from her in the process.

"Vicky?"

She jumped, surprised to find Henry behind her, his hand brushing back her hair.

"What?"

"It's almost sunrise. I have to feed and I want another look around Queen's park before dawn."

Vicky automatically tilted back her neck, exposing her throat to his eyes. She couldn't help the little jump her pulse did as his hand traveled, stroking from her hair down over her skin.

"I wasn't asking for an invitation...but thank you" Henry slipped away quickly and she felt the breeze of his passage on her cheek, and the empty space he left behind her.

"I'll just grab a bite on the way."

Trying not to be disappointed and to decide whether to be amused or not by that garish comment and the devilish smile that had accompanied it, Vicky lay down on the couch that Henry had recently vacated to try to get a few hours of sleep in before Coreen came in to start the days work.

Henry crouched down and ran his fingers over the depressions in the soft soil where the demon had attacked him and the girl tonight. He'd found a compliant meal easy enough in a night club not far from the park and after implanting a less then supernatural memory for their back alley tryst had made his way back to the park. As he'd hoped the area was mostly undisturbed-after all. He smiled; no one in their right mind would cut across a large swath of heavily treed park in the middle of the night. At least that is if they weren't someone who was an expert in the dark arts cunningly disguised as a harmless university aged girl with dark hair.

Her footsteps were unusually light, even with his superior night vision he had to look carefully to make them out. And there was a pattern to them that seemed to make it even harder to discern where exactly she had stepped.

Henry closed his eyes standing still in the night, trying to replay exactly what had happened earlier.

He recognized the spells she'd used; the power and control that it took to keep the symbols together and charged until the complicated binding was completed. It would be considered amazing enough for someone twice her age to have that kind of control and Henry didn't trust it even then. That much of power was almost always corrupting.

He realized that she must have pre-made a trap spell and held it ready, open on her palm which was hidden from sight in her pocket for when the demon attacked. The only question was, was it meant for the demon, or for himself?

Deciding that all he was finding was more questions instead of answers, Henry walked home through the park, enjoying the night and the freedom it brought. All too soon the sky would be lightening with day and he'd be forced to return home, to close the blinds of his bedroom and bar the daylight –and Vicky with it-out.

Jay opened the door to her apartment carefully, simultaneously turning the key in the deadbolt while letting the spell to dissolve her safeguards inside flow down her arm and into the hand that rested against the door. Without the spell whoever entered would find themselves stuck just inside the door like a fly in molasses, if they were strong enough to resist the killing force of it to begin with. It had saved her life more then once and she'd learned very early not to be sloppy when it came to guarding herself. Which was why exhausted as she was from the night already she turned and closing the door repeated the whole sequence again, resetting the safeguards that would protect her while she slept.

Dropping her bag on the floor she staggered into her very normal looking apartment, turned on the typical student floor lamp and cheap tv before walking past the-what was right now a very attractive looking couch and pushed aside the coffee table and rug that hid the trap door to the crawl space beneath the floor. It was the real reason why she'd taken this particular apartment. Not much to look at, the apartment hadn't attracted many interested parties even though it was close to campus, it was tiny even for one person, with concrete walls in a basement and almost no windows, but it fit her budget-which was small- and once she'd noticed the crawl space she'd been sold.

Pulling open the trap door she jumped down-there weren't any stairs-into the darkness below. It wasn't very large either, probably less then 10 foot square but it fit a desk, a small battery operated lamp, and a trunk and that was all she needed. Every available surface was currently filled and piled with her books-the more mundane english lit and fiction counterparts were upstairs completing the "student" look- but here were the hand bound volumes on demons, magic, fighting and defense from spirits and basically any other subject that might mark her as different.

She sat down in one corner, using the desk to lower herself slowly to the ground, where almost hidden from view there were a few blankets and a pillow, she carefully lifted the now darkened stone from her pocket and held it up before the light. She could feel the demon writhing within, pulsing and surging with power trying to break free from the innocuous looking black crystal. Running into it had been a surprise and had upset her plans slightly but all in all it wasn't a wasted night.

She looked down at the blood soaking through the cloth that was hastily bound around her wrist. No, not wasted at all, she thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Blood Bond

Blood Bond. Pt. 3.

Vicky woke to the deliciously wonderful smell of fresh brewed coffee. She didn't own a coffee maker and had given up the habit after quitting the police force, but today she could really use the extra head start that came with caffeine and made a mental note to thank whoever-or whatever- had brought it in today. Right now as long as they came with coffee, she didn't care if it was a person or a zombie-werewolf monster!

She stretched, uncramping her legs and neck from the awkwardly bent position that they had spent the last few hours in on the couch and sat up, automatically running a hand through her hair and reaching for her glasses. The sun was slanting in through the blinds on the window giving the room a comfortable afternoon glow..._**Afternoon **_glow? She grabbed the clock off the table beside her...12:20.

"damn" She'd had plans for this morning, not the least of which was meeting with Mike...and now she'd have to reschedule-after already flaking on him- and to make matters even worse the only excuse she had was that she'd been up half the night with Henry. This morning...afternoon she reminded herself-was not getting off to a good start.

"Vicky? Are you awake?" Coreen came in from the front office carrying an extra tall coffee in one hand and a stack of manila envelopes in the other.

"Yeah, just now. Why didn't you wake me up when you got in?"

"You looked exhausted and I figured that you and Henry had had a long night...I thought you could probably use the rest too. So how'd it go last night?" Coreen handed Vicky the coffee, adding the newest editions to the ever growing pile of papers, reports and envelopes that were slowly crowding and taking over Vicky's desk. She noted the smudges underneath Vicky's eyes and the blanket tossed over the arm of the couch and thought that Vicky has been spending way too much time at work, and even if you did admire her dedication you had to worry about her too. Not to mention that if Coreen had two very fine men in her life she definitely wouldn't be spending nights late at the office-even if one of them was a vampire.

"Not so good actually, there were a few surprises so we didn't actually get into the case at all" Vicky sipped the coffee appreciatively.

"_Really!_? What happened? Tell me all about it! Every wonderfully specific little-well hopefully not little!-detail! " Coreen sat down nearly on top of Vicky so excited that she almost made Vicky spill her coffee

"Coreen! I don't even want to know what you've got running through your head right now, but that's **Definitely** not what happened. Henry ran into some demon in Queen's park. It almost killed him, but some girl, a witch or something managed to trap it only to disappear before Henry could find out who she was."

Coreen jumped up, again nearly making Vicky spill the precious vital coffee. "Oh my gosh! Is he okay? Do we need to do anything? Go to him or something?"

Vicky laughed, "He's probably sound asleep right now."

"oh...and I suppose we wouldn't want to accidentally see him in bed or anything...possibly without clothes on...all asleep and helpless.."

"Coreen!" Vicky exclaimed indigently-annoyed at both Coreen and herself for the pictures that were immediately coming to mind. She felt the tell tale flush rising to her face and quickly took another drink of coffee. It really was the perfect way to start the morning, tall and extra dark with two sugars no cream...come to think of it, it was exactly the way she liked to start the morning, every morning up to about six months ago...

"Coreen...where did you get the coffee?" Vicky asked, a horrible thought coming to mind.

"I didn't. Mike brought it by this morning. Said he had a meeting with you, but when he heard that you were napping off a late night he said that he'd come back some other time."

"great." Just great, Vicky thought, knowing that Mike would be in the worst mood possible whenever she did catch up with him later soured the rest of her coffee which she abandoned on the table. Caffeine was bad for you anyways.

"Well, we've got work to do" Vicky said eyeing the piles of reports that had accumulated for her-courtesy of Mike-since she'd agreed to look into the more supernatural aspects of his case.

"I'll see how much of this I can work through before sundown...but why don't you see if you can find any information on our mystery witch-girl Coreen? Henry said her name was Jay and that she was about 24 or 25, dark hair, probably lives on or near campus what with where they ran into each other, so maybe a University student?"

"I can check the University system, see if anyone's registered under that name." Coreen thought it sounded like a long shot, but you never knew, sometimes you got lucky with long shots. Look how she'd met Vicky and Henry after all-as a last chance long shot to try to find someone who would believe her about her boyfriends death being related to vampires. She was right, but it turned out that it was a vampire was who helped her finally track down his killer rather then being the murderer.

"And if she's really a wiccan then she might be involved with one or more of the practicing groups on campus, I can call some of the people I know."

"Great" Vicky said, already leafing through the papers. "Let me know what you come up with."

Engrossed in the procedural writing of her former life, Vicky didn't notice Coreen leave the room to start searching out the proverbial needle in the rather large University haystack. This was exactly the kind of case that she used to work with Mike, when she was still on the police force...when her vision was still fine and they were a team. She threw herself into it, letting her memory run free so that for the moment –what harm is there in a moment?- it felt like she was reading the actual reports-not only copies- sitting at her old desk in the bustling police station, with Mike right across the way, there were no problems with her vision, no case they couldn't solve together...and no supernatural creatures waiting in the dark... and her world was safe and familiar-if only for a moment.

Mike stretched, leaning back in his chair. He'd been sitting at this damn desk for too long staring at crime scene photos and reports and statements believing that if he just kept looking sooner or later something would come clear. If he were honest, he really wasn't giving it his full attention...his mind kept circling back to a certain person...and a certain vampire who she was probably out with all night. At his request no less...

"Damn!" He scowled, slamming down the file he was holding. He wasn't getting anything done and worse he was just driving himself crazy in the process.

"Having a bad day partner?"

Mike looked up to find his partner- his newest partner- Kate Lam leaning on the corner of her desk watching him. He's had a number of partners in the time since Vicky left the force, none of them seemed to click right though. They were all good cops, he just didn't have the same-he refused to use the word chemistry-... easy collaboration with them.

Determined to get his mind off of Vicky once and for all he stood up and walked over to the board that was quickly filling up with photos and scribbled notes.

"It's this case...I can't seem to get it off my mind" he lied, or not lied really, because if it weren't for this particular case, he wouldn't have had to ask Vicky to investigate the more supernatural aspects that he couldn't explain away and could no longer ignore. Which meant that she wouldn't have had to be working with that bastard vampire Fitzroy, which meant that they wouldn't have been out all night together, doing god only knew what.

"Well, serial killers aren't exactly easy to ignore Mike." Kate hadn't been his partner long, but even she could see that something other then the case was bothering him, He'd been acting strange lately, if possible even more distant and introspective. She couldn't help but think that his distraction could be spelled out with one word-Vicky. She'd expected some adjustment period when they became partners, after all one didn't just develop a rapport over night but she never expected to have to compete with an ex-partner who didn't know when to leave. It was like battling a ghost. And it didn't help that this particular ghost seemed to be right a hell of a lot of the time.

She knew that there were aspects of the case that he shared with Vicky that he shouldn't. She also knew that there were things that he kept from her. If they couldn't resolve these trust issues, they'd never be good partners and she'd have to ask to be reassigned.

"True enough" Mike responded, startling her out of her reflective mood.

"but there's been four victims now, no apparent connection between any of them; men and women, of all ages, all social and economic statuses. It just all seems so random...the only pattern that we've been able to determine is that they're beginning to center in around the campus district, and each victim is missing for a full day before the body turns up."

"Don't forget the blood thing and the animal killings"

"No real chance of that" Mike laughed bitterly, wishing that there were a way for him to forget the possible connection to vampires and with it Henry Fitzroy.

Kate looked at him, thinking there it was again, he knew something and wasn't telling her, was purposely keeping her out of the loop. She frowned, looking back at the board. Confronting him once already hadn't done anything, she had to find a way to make him see that she was his partner now, not Vicky and that they were in this together.

"Don't worry," Mike said, believing that Kate was frowning about the lack of leads that they had in the case. "something will come up. Maybe it would be a good idea to check with Dr. Mohadevan again. She only got the last two victims today cause of delays with the third crime scene, maybe she's found new evidence that can help."

"Worth a try" Kate sighed. "I'll get my coat."

Mike was already putting his own coat on and patting down his desk in search of car keys.

"Mind if we stop off for coffee on the way?" he asked "I never drank the one I got this morning, bad mood made it bitter I guess."

Vicky told the cab to pull around and wait. She didn't expect to be long and even though it made her transportation costs enormous it was easier and faster then having to cool her heels waiting for countless cabs to be dispatched. She'd spent the rest of the afternoon going over the case reports from Mike and hadn't come up with anything. There was a startling lack of connection between all the victims, not usually what you saw with serial killers, and that more then the lack of blood and elapsed time made her think that there might be something out of the ordinary with this case. In the end, when she couldn't stand sitting at her desk anymore-after all that was why she quit the force, because she didn't want a desk job due to her deteriorating vision-she'd told Coreen she was going out to check a few inconsistencies and hoped to be back before dark. Which was a very neat and tidy way of saying without actually saying it that she hoped to be back before Henry woke up.

Coreen had come up with nothing about their witch in the University records, which meant that however she had appeared to Henry, she wasn't actually a student. As Vicky left, Coreen was still on the phone with various wiccan groups, catching up with old friends and casually trying to determine if there were any new brunette's who had shown up at meetings lately.

No insights about the possible serial killer, no clues as to the identity of Henry's mystery witch-girl. Yup, this day really wasn't going well.

She hoped that something would reveal itself with the autopsies of the two latest victims. When she'd noticed the reports missing on those individuals, she'd tried to call Mike, only to learn that he was out of the office- he was going to be in a really _fabulous_ mood later!- and unable to just ask for classified information anymore, she decided to head straight for the source; The morgue.

By-passing the front desk, she used the back entrance pausing when she heard talking coming from the autopsy crypt. It took only a second to recognize Dr. Mohadevan's voice and knowing that she customarily spoke to herself while she worked –Vicky refused to entertain the possibility that she actually spoke to the dead- Vicky walked in, pulling notes from her bag.

"'Evening Doc. I was wondering if I could ask you..." She trailed off as she caught sight of who else was in the room.

"Hi Vicky" said Mike looking strained. He knew that he needed to talk to her about the case, see if she or Henry had come up with anything while they were together last night, but he hadn't expected to be confronted with her so soon. Besides, with Kate and Dr. Mohadevan present it wasn't as if he could exactly ask what the vampire who was helping her had found with his magical supernatural powers. It sounded insane even to him.

Dr. Mohadevan looked back and forth between the two of them while the silence stretched just a little too long. Vicky hadn't expected to find Mike here, but now that she stopped and thought about it for, oh, a second! She knew that it was the only place that he could be. If she'd thought of coming here for a lead, then there was no way that he wouldn't have too. They were too good of a team for that.

"Hi Mike."

"Ms. Nelson."

Vicky looked past both Mike and Dr. Mohadevan to see Mike's new partner Kate on the other side of the table.

"Hi Kate. Um...how's it going?"

"Busy." Kate replied. She looked back at Mike for a second, as if seeing if he was going to say anything, but when he remained silent she stepped around the table toward Vicky.

"I don't mean to be rude, but we're on official business with Dr. Mohadevan about a very high profile and classified case...would you mind stepping outside and waiting until we're done? We'll only be a few more minutes."

Not really having any other response Vicky nodded.

"Sure, no problem. Mike?...uh. .just let me know when you're done." It wasn't as if she could just blurt out in front of everyone that she knew all the details of the case already and was here on exactly the same business that Kate and Mike were. There was no way that she could explain that away without getting Mike into serious trouble, so she stepped out into the hall, trying not to let the big sign that said 'You're Not Welcome Here Anymore' hit her on the ass on the way out.

Mike watched Vicky leave, wishing that he could call her back and erase that hurt look in her eyes but knowing that he couldn't. He'd tried to make her see that she could still be a cop even if her eyesight wasn't good enough to pass field tests, that she didn't have to leave the force, leave him, because of it but she'd been unswayable. He knew she hated having to ask for favors just to get information that would have been rightfully hers to know when she was a cop, having to ask people to look the other way or bend the rules. Despite what she said, about the freedom of not having to stay strictly within the police rules, Mike knew that she'd still trade it all in if it meant that she'd be able to work homicide again.

He missed the end of Dr. Mohadevan's report, barely even looking away from the door. Kate would fill him in later, he knew, she really was a good detective, good partner too. He just had to move on and finally accept that he and Vicky weren't a team anymore-which would be easier to do as soon as he got this case out of the way and didn't need her help with the strange unexplainable parts.

"So, is that everything then?" Mike asked when his ears registered a silent moment.

"Yes, I believe that covers it." Dr. Mohadevan said. "If you need anything further just call-someone's always here. Otherwise you'll get my report in the next day or two."

"Thank you Doctor." Kate said. "Ready to go Mike?"

"Sure...just let me go tell Vicky that we're done. I'll meet you at the car." He tossed her the keys and was practically out the door by the time she caught them.

He found Vicky waiting in the front lounge, leafing through what was probably some amazingly out of date magazine.

"Vic?"

"Hey, you guys all done?" She stood up briskly, straightening her glasses but not meeting his eyes.

"Vic, I'm sorry about that, but what could I have done? It wasn't like I could just..."

"It's okay. I get it." She looked up for the first time, taking in Mike's disheveled appearance and truly worried expression. There was something bothering him, the case yes, but something more then that... and if she'd been Vicky of the old days she would have asked him what it was, they'd have gotten bad chinese food and she'd have him laughing and arguing, he'd brush back her hair telling her exactly why what she suggested couldn't possibly be the real motive-probably cause it was anatomically impossible and seriously unlikely... and before you knew they'd be...

She cut herself off sharply, not wanting to remember that much right now. Things weren't like they used to be.

"Really, it's okay Mike. So what did Dr. Mohadevan have to say? Anything of interest?"

"Possibly, it's with the first victim actually. There's some bruising that's appeared around lips, and neck. Apparently bruises that are associated closely with the time of death can take a few days to appear. There's nothing too out of the ordinary with the neck bruises, it looks fairly consistent with being grabbed or held down, but the lips are different..."

"How so?"

"Well, when she examined the inside of the mouth she found a series of tears and rips along the lips. Small. Upon initial examination it appeared as if they were self-inflicted- like the victim was biting their lips closed, but the extensive bruises and angles apparently make it look as if something was tearing from the outside in. She checked the other bodies too and they all match. Now, under normal circumstances a wound like that couldn't possibly bleed out a body but..."

Vicky sighed, they both knew how a wound like that could explain the blood loss but neither wanted to think about it for very different reasons.

"Thanks, Mike" Vicky said rubbing at the center of her forehead where a headache was building. "I'll let Henry know and we'll come back later tonight so that he can take a look and see if it's anything related."

At the mention of Henry's name-especially when followed by the 'we' that meant Henry and Vicky and not him and Vicky- Mike frowned.

"Just let me know when you're done cause I think I'll have a few questions for dear old Henry myself."

"Mike! You know that he didn't have anything to do with this!"

"Vicky, I'm tired of you thinking that he's a harmless bunnyrabbit. He's a vampire Vic, a killer and even if he didn't do this-and I'm not saying that he didn't- he might know something about who-or what did. I'll need to talk to him."

Vicky watched Mike storm out the front door, wondering how many times her and Mike were going to have to have the same argument. She couldn't explain why she trusted Henry, she just did-and he'd never let her down. She wished Mike could see past his vampire-ism and see him like she did-well, not exactly like she did! But at least not always think of him as a cold blooded killer.

She took a deep breath in preparation for what the night was going to bring-and what she'd have to tell Henry when he woke up- before stepping outside to make her way back to the office.

At worst case a vampire was involved in the killings, at best someone was trying to make it look that way, they'd made no progress finding the witch that had confronted Henry last night or the demon that she still had control of, Mike was in the bad mood to end all bad moods and was going to stop by later to grill Henry about his possible involvement in the case, and to top everything off she had no idea where to go next. Yup, this was definitely _**NOT**_ turning out to be a good day.


	4. Chapter 4

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 4

The sun slowly sank below the horizon, turning the concrete buildings and glass skyscrapers of Toronto into a blaze of colour as if the city itself were on fire, rallying to hold the daylight to it for an instant longer. Vicky was on her way back to the office still discouraged about the day's progress-or lack there of-. Mike had-surprisingly to both himself and Kate, accepted her invitation to dinner on their way back to the station. In a luxurious penthouse far above the city, Henry suddenly rose, breath streaming into his lungs and a deep hunger possessing him with urgency to begin another night.

……

And in a small dark space beneath the floor of a bachelor apartment Jay woke up slowly feeling her body protest the lack of sleep and harsh treatment of the past few weeks. Moving to a new city was always hard, but it had become even harder to manage over the last three years or so. The logistics of shipping her priceless and irreplaceable books, finding a new place that would meet her needs, and not leaving a paper trail with a big sign saying 'Here I Am!" were becoming nearly impossible. Not to mention finding a job that wouldn't mind her odd and erratic hours...

She stretched, reaching automatically for the light that was on the desk beside her only to grimace in pain as her wrist pulled at the hasty makeshift bandage that she'd put on last night. Cursing herself for not taking the time to change it property she stood-cradling her arm to her chest- and switched on the light with her left hand. The bandage, once white cloth was now caked with dried blood, stuck impossibly to her skin. Well that would have to be priority one tonight, she sighed.

Getting out of the crawl space took some time. Usually easy with both arms and hands it became obnoxiously annoying when one wrist refused to support her weight enough to lift her up, but biting her lips she managed to make it on the fourth attempt. She added a mental note to find somewhere she could keep up her training while she walked into the small bathroom and ran hot water to slowly soak off the bandage. When it finally came free, one layer at a time it revealed the nasty gash now red around the edges and badly bruised. She knew that there would have been less damage if she let the vampire bite her instead of cutting herself but somehow this way still seemed easier.

There would have been no damage at all if you'd just left him there, she berated herself. She thought back over the events of the night before trying to make sense of why she'd saved him. It certainly wasn't any over arching love for his kind. Some people seemed positively obsessed with vampires-thinking them poor tortured souls that could be saved through love. Personally she blamed Anne Rice and her romanticized Louis. So why had she done it?

She'd been in the city for nearly two weeks now...each night after the first she'd spent out walking in the dark waiting and hoping to come across the vampire. They were highly territorial species and so there would be only one. And this one was supposed to be able to tell her what she needed to know. But until last night she'd had no luck. Sure there were people who tried to prey on her for something other then her blood- money, fear, a good time, she'd come across more then a fair number of them but they hadn't been what she was looking for and so she'd disregarded- and discarded them as useless. And then last night there was the demon.

She supposed that was the reason actually. This vampire, this Henry had tried to save her from it. Had stepped between her and danger. Self sacrifice wasn't something that she usually associated with vampires...in fact it was about as far as you could get from what she thought about them. It was interesting though, interesting enough that it called for a second encounter. Besides she still needed information from him and it was pretty hard to get that if he was dead.

She quickly and neatly re-bandaged her wrist, adding an antibiotic cream and non-stick pad to protect her skin from further injury by blood-clotted-bandage and walked back into the living room. Scattered on the couch and coffee table were the recent newspapers and tabloids dealing with the murders of the past few weeks. They had certain vampiric qualities but she was fairly sure that it wasn't a real vampire committing the crimes. There was no way that a vampire would draw that much attention to themselves-she doubted that the real vampire Henry would even be so much as listed in the phone book! But if there was one thing that she knew would draw a vampire out it was the threat of being exposed. Henry would be hunting the killer even more fastidiously then the police would right now, which since dealing with the killer was one reason she had come to this city and Henry was the other it suited her just fine.

And while Henry probably wouldn't be listed in the yellow pages under "Vampire" she was pretty sure that his friend Vicky would be in there somewhere. She dialed the number that had come up on his caller id the night before, waiting while it rang once, then again...

"Hello, Vicky Nelson Investigations. How can I help you?" A cheery voice answered. Not the woman from the night before, jay noticed but still useful.

"Sorry, wrong number. Have a good night" She replied and hung up the phone, flipping through the yellow pages for PI's...Ah. Vicky Nelson Investigations was a small square at the bottom of the page with a caption that read 'No Case Too Strange'. She smiled, thinking that the cases must be strange indeed with a vampire on the payroll.

She checked the clock, just after 7:15. The shop opened at 9:00-she'd gotten a job working the front desk at a small fortune teller store, you could have your palms read, tarot cards, or the traditional and classic magic crystal ball. Completely useless and fake hype but it would pay the bills and she considered it slightly ironic and amusing to be working there. There might be time to stop by for a quick visit before work...if she hurried.

--

Vicky was just sitting down at her desk when there was a knock at the door. Coreen had left a note saying that she was going out to check a few more wiccan circles and some favorite haunts of would-be-witches to try and track down the mystery girl, but otherwise hadn't had any luck. Apparently she was not only a demon hunting vampire luring witch but also rather anti-social. That left Vicky on her own for the night, or at least until Henry got here and she told him all the good news of all the Nothing that they'd come up with during the day.

She sighed, deciding on second thought not to get up again and called "Come in!" This was an office after all, so the door never officially closed-or locked, unless everyone was out.

A girl walked in, young-ish but not really that young and peered hesitantly around the door.

"Vicky Nelson?" she asked.

"That's me. What can I help you with?"

"I got your address from the phone book...it said that you deal with unusual cases, and I have something rather unusual that I could use your help with." There was a question in the words, as if asking for confirmation that Vicky wouldn't condemn the girl for whatever strange thing she was here about.

"I'll try to help if I can" Vicky said reassuringly. "I'm a little tied up with another case right now, but I'd be grateful for a distraction." She'd be grateful for anything that didn't make her think about the soon-to-be conversation with Henry about these murders and what it looked like had happened.

"It's my brother" the dark haired girl said, pulling a photograph out of her pocket. It showed a handsome looking blonde, older then her, caught in the action of kicking a soccer ball past a shaggy dog who guarded the goal. There was clearly no physical resemblance between the siblings and when the girl noted the questioning in Vicky's gaze she amended, "My half brother"

"He's been missing for weeks now, and no one seems to believe me!"

Clearly distressed, Vicky motioned the girl to sit down in the chair and passed her a Kleenex.

"Have you gone to the police? What about your parents?"

"They don't believe me, I've tried to tell them...He left a note, saying that he was going away with this girl, that they were going to be together forever but that they couldn't stay here, had to start their life over together somewhere new."

"Well that doesn't sound so unusual, people fall in love and move away all the time" Vicky responded, trying to be sympathetic.

"You don't understand, it's not like him-we're a close family, and he never even introduced this girl to us...suddenly he just changed. Started staying out all night and not going to classes-he used to be a really good student and wanted to get into medical school but then he just dropped out."

Vicky opened her mouth to speak, saying that it was an odd change in behaviour but if there was no further evidence and since he was clearly over 18...but the girl motioned her silent and continued.

"My parents thought it was a joke at first, then when he was gone for almost a week they began to believe it, but they still thought that he'd come back-that they'd fight and break up and he'd come home. But I knew it was something else." She paused as if reading herself for a blow. "I saw him. Just four days ago near here, by Queen's park. He looked so different, deathly pale, his skin was stretched and there was something wrong with his mouth, his lips looked like they were bleeding, and his eyes ...his eyes were just dark holes.. like he was already dead inside."

Vicky leaned forward, her attention caught by the distinctive and characteristic description of what she'd seen only earlier today in the morgue and read about in four victim case files. Just when she thought that there was nothing to go on, a perfect lead shows up on her doorstep no less...it was too good to be true and made Vicky more then a little distrustful.

"I tried go to him but he... he vanished, right in front of me, he was there, and then he just wasn't. I'm not crazy. Really! ..I've been searching ever since, but haven't found him. Please, I need your help. I don't care what's happened to him, what he is, I just want my brother back." The girl broke down sobbing and Vicky immediately moved to hand the girl another Kleenex when there was the noise of the door opening again.

"Vicky? I'm back!" Coreen called, "It was a total bust, a few newbie's but no one who could possibly be who we're looking for..." she trailed off as she came into the room.

"This is my assistance Coreen" Vicky introduced but before she had time for more then that the girl was up out of the chair.

"I'm sorry, I know you're busy. That other case and everything... I was just hoping that you'd keep an eye out for my brother...maybe ask around a little. I'm sorry for bothering you." She turned to go and reached into her pocket pulling out a card, pressing it into Vicky's hand.

"If you do find anything, _Anything_, you can leave a message for me here" It was a business card for a small magic's store selling potions and fortune telling. And with that the girl was out of the office before Vicky could even frame a reply or ask her to wait.

"What was that about?" Coreen asked.

"I'm not sure exactly," Vicky said "Possibly just a girl looking for her brother who got caught up with the wrong girl, but there are some striking similarities between how she said her brother looked when she last saw him and what our victims look like."

"Please don't tell me that we're going to have to tell her that her brother is probably already dead. She seemed so upset! It would crush her!"

"I'm not so sure that she'd be all that surprised" Vicky mused looking out the doorway into the night.

--

Jay slowed her pace once she was a block away from Vicky Nelson's office. It had definitely been worth it and who knows, her sob story might pay off. As totally fictional as her make believe brother was, any clues that she could get-even from a P.I. that could help her in tracking down this killer were nothing to scoff at. And the elements of truth woven into her story might help put Henry onto the right track too. She was more then happy to have him deal with this particular little problem and save her strength for their own confrontation.

She smiled thinking of his reaction when he arrived at Vicky's office later tonight...while she was there she'd twisted and bent her wrist enough that a few blood drops spilled onto the floor. He would recognize her scent immediately and know that she had been there. Bating a vampire was never a safe thing to do but if there was one thing that got them out into the open other then the threat of exposure, it was to threaten humans they cared about. And with her visit she'd just let Henry know that she was capable of doing just that.


	5. Chapter 5

Blood Ties Blood Bond

Blood Ties Blood Bond. Pt. 5

Henry thought about his situation as he made his way to Vicky's office. He'd woken ravenous from the loss of blood yesterday and had barely been able to avoid jumping the doorman and harmless old lady who rode down in the elevator with him. Thankfully an old acquaintance of his had been stopping by to see him, unexpectedly and uninvited but not unwelcome, just as he was leaving and it was easy to convince her to come with him-at least as far as the nearest alley.

Just earlier this week, he'd made arrangements to leave Toronto-leave Vicky- and move on with his life. It was becoming painfully clear that things between him and Vicky weren't the same, had changed irrevocably. She had taken steps to protect him that he just couldn't live with...if he stayed then she would be continually forced to take greater and greater risks until eventually one of them got her killed. He had been worried about her marks, about the dark powers that they would draw to her, but it had been a few weeks now without anything more supernatural then old souls and psychics. He was finally realizing that it was time to move on, that it would only hurt both himself and Vicky if he were to stay.

And then there was the demon in the park, and the witch, and these killings...

He sighed, pausing to look up at the night sky, ablaze with stars and light. Normally in the city the lights from below obscured all but the brightest stars and man-made satellites, but with his night vision he could see it like it was hundreds of years ago, a swath of milky coloured light cutting through the darkness. The true Milky-way where constellations were not lines of three or four starts in the shape of what was supposed to look like a cross, or a man but full images staring out of the night.

He had made arrangements to leave, had spoken with the guardians and opened his territory to advances by another. And he'd paid a considerable amount of money to keep an old man happy and comfortable for a week in the most luxurious hotel Toronto had to offer. He shook his head thinking of the bill that had been sent to him, smiling slightly at Augustus's rather refined-which was just code for saying expensive- tastes, but knowing that he was worth it.

Augustus's family had been taking care of his arrangements and movements for the better part of his immortal lifetime, and would continue to do so as other mortal families did with the others of his kind. Their role was essential in maintaining peace and keeping the existence of vampires a secret. Without the guardians chaos would break out and that meant out right warfare for territories between vampires, fighting in the streets...their existence would be broadcast to the world.

Henry didn't want to draw out his departure any longer then it was strictly necessary, but he couldn't –he wouldn't- leave Vicky alone when there was a serial killer-and a witch with a pet demon lurking out there somewhere. He'd take care of it, make sure that it would be safe for her and then...

He didn't want to think about leaving her-how hard it would be to walk away knowing that he would never, could never allow himself to see her again. He remembered how she looked the night she'd found the books on Vancouver at his place...hurt and abandoned, but quickly covered by anger and aloofness. He wished there was another option, that he could just forget and they could start over...

Henry wrenched himself away from the stars and sky and back to the streets of Toronto. The night was getting away from him and there was still lot to look into before dawn, together with Vicky. He swept through the streets unseen, focused on completing the task at hand and pushing aside his emotions to deal with another night. There was a killer to track down, a witch to uncover and a demon to destroy, and as usual Vicky was at the center of it all.

With her penchant for getting into trouble he'd probably be lucky if he found them before they found her!


	6. Chapter 6

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 6

Vicky picked up the phone, and actually got through the first five digits of Henry's cell, before hanging up again. She pushed herself out the chair and started pacing the room, which considering it wasn't really big enough for pacing was rather challenging and impressive. She checked her watch again-11:40, before walking back to the desk and picking up the phone for the fourth time.

She'd been alternating between anger, worry and annoyance at herself for the past three hours. Anger because if Henry was just out dillydallying the night away, they had better things to do. Not to mention that he usually dillydallied when he was feeding, which brought up a whole new source of anger that she wasn't going to look into too closely. But it wasn't like him to be late when there was something important going on, and last night he'd seemed more interested in this case then he had in anything in a long while. Which brought her back to worry again...what if he'd run into that witch again? And was hurt somewhere?

...What if he'd decided to look into the case on his own and leave her out of it? He'd been so distant lately, keeping secrets and avoiding her. She'd seen the travel guides for the west coast at his suite, knew that things weren't the same between them as they had been, and that even what closeness they did share hadn't really been enough for Henry. Her feelings were just so confused and she didn't know if she could ever offer him the kind of relationship he wanted. It was like her life had been tossed and turned upside down so many times lately that she was just trying to find solid ground to rebuild...first her eyesight, then leaving the police force, leaving Mike...she thought that was the hard part of it, but then Henry came into the picture, and with him a whole new world that she'd never even dreamed existed. Even when things did settle down, she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and it all to be upside down again.

Plus there was that whole dark magic issue that would always be between them...She'd apologized so many times, but she'd do it again if it meant saving his life.

Maybe it was for the best if he left...but at the same time even the thought of it cut through her and life without Henry was as if someone had severed a limb and then just expected her to pick up and go on.

She set the phone down. It wouldn't do any good to push him. He knew that she was here, he'd have to choose himself whether or not he was going to trust her again. All she could do was wait and hope that he decided soon so that the waiting didn't drive her crazy in the process.

--

Henry was almost at Vicky's office when he first began to notice that he was being followed. Whoever it was, wasn't trying particularly hard to disguise the fact...he probably would have noticed sooner if he hadn't been so caught up in, well...everything that had been on his mind lately. Which could basically be summed up in one word-Vicky.

The shuffling noise behind him was never more then about a block or two away, he would have to be blind, def and particularly stupid not to have noticed it even if he'd been mortal. With his senses it was almost painfully obvious. The only thing that made him pause and start heading away from her office was that even with all of his extra sensory perception, he couldn't detect a heart beat.

He'd had run-ins with various undead creatures over the course of his existence. Even in this day and age he'd been drawn into voodoo and death magic, zombies and animated corpses. But while the thing behind him was dead, it also was not...and not in the clearly walking dead zombie sort of undead way. He didn't know exactly what it was, but whatever it may be he certainly didn't want to lead it straight to Vicky...he wouldn't put it past the witch to raise the dead using dark magic.

He began walking away from the lighted streets, turning consistently to the darker areas off the main paths, slowing his pace until what followed him was close. Half way down the block, he slipped into an alley doubling back to get behind whoever had been behind him. Henry paused at the corner, whatever it was should be right on the other side...he listened waiting for any indication of movement. He'd never had to track something without a heart beat before and it was harder then he would have thought to anticipate where exactly it was when it didn't make any noise.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the walking started again, but to Henry's surprise it had turned around following his movements and was now coming back towards him. How had it known he'd changed direction?

Henry dropped into a crouch, waiting. He'd had enough of cat and mouse games for the night and decided to end this now.

If you didn't know better, or didn't look that closely in the dark you might have thought that the man that came around the corner was alive. He still retained the good looks and athletic figure that came with youth, but when it turned Henry could see that its eyes were black and dead and skin tinged blue. Without a second thought Henry jumped, trying to pin it against the wall and keep it immobile while he got the answers out of it he needed.

Or that was how it was supposed to go anyways.

The undead thing reacted faster then Henry had thought possible, catching Henry midleap and using his own momentum to throw him further down the street. Generally the undead were rather slow and sluggish, but this particular variety seemed to be almost as fast as Henry.

Henry sprang up, his fangs and claws extending to full length and a growl he couldn't suppress escaping his throat as he turned back toward the corner. Only to find that he was alone on the street, the light illuminating an empty sidewalk.

He paused, listening for the telltale sounds of the creature shuffling away, but again, all was silent and he was most definitely alone. Still, Henry approached the corner with caution, wary now where before he had been so bold. When he had first attacked, he believed that it was some new creation of zombie, or possibly repossession of the body by a dead soul or demon, but in the light, as it had raised its' head to throw him, Henry had caught sight of teeth, long and pointed indenting its lower lip. Whatever it was it was definitely out of even his realm of experience.

--

Coreen nearly signed out loud in relief when Henry walked through the door just after midnight. Vicky hadn't been able to sit still or focus for hours worrying about him and it was even beginning to drive her crazy!

"Evening Henry," she said, sneaking a glance at his butt when he turned to shut the door...truly awe inspiring how after hundreds of years something could stay so wonderfully firm...

"Coreen" he nodded, walking back toward Vicky's office.

Suddenly he paused, just in front of her desk...

"Has anyone been in tonight? Someone new?"

"umm... " she stalled, frantically trying to bring her mind back on task "No one was on the appointment schedule-Vicky had me clear it cause of the serial killer case...wait! there was a girl here when I got back earlier- she was in talking to Vicky"

Henry hadn't waited to hear all of Coreen's reply before pushing open the door and barging into the back room.

"Henry!" Vicky exclaimed getting up from the chair and putting the file she'd been trying to read down. She'd managed to read the same page five times and still had no idea what it said, but her annoyance was washed away with relief that Henry was alright. Extremely late and possibly trying to give her a heartattack, but alright.

Henry completely ignored Vicky, walking around her and checking the bathroom and then the closet and wardrobe before scanning over the rest of the room. Normally he wouldn't have wasted the time, assuming that because he only sensed Coreen and Vicky in the room that there were only the three of them, but after the night he'd had already he wasn't going to take any chances.

"Who was here earlier?" he asked, kneeling down beside the chair in front of Vicky's desk and examining the floor.

"No one, I mean just a girl who wanted some help looking for her brother who had run away with his girlfriend. Henry what's this about? And where have you been all evening?"

Henry didn't answer, still kneeling and thoughtfully rubbing the fingers of his left hand together.

"Did she give her name? or any other way of getting in touch with her?"

Vicky looked at Coreen who stood leaning against the doorframe, Henry usually wasn't this cryptic and it was making her nervous.

"No actually.." and that was odd now that Vicky thought about it. At the time the girl had clearly been in such distress and then Coreen had come in, she hadn't thought about it even though other aspects of the girls description of her brother had caught her attention.

Vicky walked around Henry and started rummaging through the piles on her desk.

"She did leave a card though...I put it somewhere around here..." Finding the card and photo stuffed in a drawer she handed it to Henry.

"What's this about?"

Henry's smile made shivers run down Vicky's spine, and not in the very enjoyable way that they did when his lips and then teeth teased her skin. He held up his fingers, the tips stained red.

"Whoever you met with tonight was kind enough to leave behind a calling card of an entirely different nature also" Henry answered. "The girl was Jay, I'd recognize the blood anywhere."

"That girl was the witch?!" Coreen gasped. "She seemed so harmless, I mean she was practically sobbing about her brother when I walked in."

"Whoever she is Coreen, I seriously doubt that she was here about a long lost brother" Henry answered looking up at Vicky. There was something she wasn't saying about her encounter earlier, a small frown had formed on her face and she hadn't been all that surprised when he'd revealed the girls true identity. As if he was just confirming something that she already suspected. One of the things that made Vicky so attractive was that she was always challenging him, always finding connections and beating him to conclusions...it was one of the things that he'd miss the most.

"If she even has one you mean!" Coreen answered vehemently. She'd felt sorry for the girl and here she was just using them to probably get close enough to attack Henry again! That...that...Witch!

"Hold on a second Coreen, she may not have a brother, but she did have a photo" Vicky mused, passing the picture of the would-be-brother to Henry.

Henry froze when he looked at the picture.

"I know him" Henry stated, not looking away from the photo. "I was late because someone was following me, I led it away from here and then confronted it. It was him, only most definitely dead, but also not dead." The similarities and differences were striking between the bright and alive young man in the image and the dead thing that Henry had fought earlier tonight.

Something in the way Henry said that put Vicky on edge. "What do you mean dead, but not dead?"

"He was dead-there was no heartbeat, no breathing, but walking...purposely following me and very strong..."

"So what...zombies again?" Coreen asked. "You guys can handle that!"

Vicky wasn't so sure. She'd been watching Henry since he'd come in and something was clearly bothering him...definitely not right.

"No, not zombies and voodoo. Whatever I ran into tonight...had fangs."

"I thought you'd know if there was another vampire in the city? Like you knew before." Vicky said.

The last time another vampire had come to town it had been Henry's maker and ex-lover Christina. Henry had chosen to become a vampire in order to stay with her forever, only after the first century or two a vampire's territorial nature kicks in and they ended up almost killing each other. Christina had shown up asking for Henry's help in stopping an obsessed ex-boyfriend who was trying to expose her as a vampire-only she'd failed to mention that the boyfriend was a vampire also, who she'd turned without asking his permission or fully explaining the cost. Vicky knew that Henry had to help because of the threat of being exposed himself if he didn't, but she wished he hadn't made it so easy, or enjoyed it quite so much. She didn't delude herself into thinking that she was the only woman in Henry's heart-after all he had lived for almost 500 years and he wasn't a monk for most of those!- but it hurt being compared to the woman that he had been willing to give up everything for and having him choose Christina again.

"I would."

"So whatever it was tonight then, wasn't a vampire?" Vicky said, half stating it, half asking for his confirmation. When none was forthcoming, she sighed and reached for her coat that was hanging off the back of the door.

"Well, I think that merits returning a visit to our friendly neighbourhood witch, don't you? Coreen, in the meantime can you see what you can find out about undead things with fangs?"

"The usual what, who and how to kill it?" Coreen asked on her way out the door.

Vicky nodded, pulling on her jacket.

"Henry, you coming?"

"Yes, I'm just not so sure if you should..."

Vicky pulled up short as if he had struck her. Here it was then, she tried to get a deep breath, tried to pull together her arguments. They were a team after all, he couldn't just cut her out. He was the one who'd wanted to start working together, he couldn't end it now. But it was so hard to face him with tears burning behind her eyes at the thought that he wanted to end it all.

"Her coming here was a threat Vicky, a threat to me that she could come here, could sit here and talk to you, get close enough to hurt you without me knowing. If she decides to come back during the day there's nothing that I could do to protect you." Henry took her face between his hands forcing her to look up. "I don't want any more of her attention focused on you...if something were to happen..."

Vicky reached up and covered his hands with her own, "You have to trust me Henry, trust that I'll be able to look after myself and take care of whatever may come up. We're partners Henry-part of that means trusting that I'll be there for you too, just like I know you'd always be there for me if I needed you."

Henry dropped his hands and looked away. Because that was just it, that was the problem; he did trust Vicky to be there for him, he knew that she would risk her life for him. He just wasn't prepared to live with what could happen if he let himself trust her too far.

"Lets go then...partner"


	7. Chapter 7

Blood Ties Blood Bond Pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond Pt. 7

Mystic Mystique was a rather small magic shop just outside of the arts district, but close enough that its eclectic nature wouldn't attract too much attention. The front window displayed bottles and vials of god only knew what potions, but Henry distinctly thought that he saw 'love potion no.9" labeled on one of them. He snorted in derision, the gimmicks that these mortals would sell or believe. But that wasn't what really bothered him about these places...it was that they made it all seem so easy, so free. Real magic had a cost and to dabble in something that you didn't understand might cause more harm then good.

"Tarot readings, palmistry, fortune telling, i-ching, love potions and more!" Vicky read off the sign, peering up through her glasses at the frosted window. "Sounds like the perfect place to start our witch hunt."

Henry looked over at Vicky. Everything it seemed, had a cost. But he sighed and held open the door for her to go inside, ready with one hand to catch her if she happened to trip over the ledge in the dark.

The inside of the shop was if anything even more outrageous then the outside, everything all beaded curtains and tables or lamps draped with silk coloured cloths. It reminded Henry oddly enough of a brothel he'd been in once in the 17th century in Paris...Henry couldn't think of a single magic user he'd ever known who had broadcast it to the world this much, but it was actually quite clever...who would ever think that this cliché rich location housed a real witch?

Henry had barely made it though the door when a woman walked over, trailing yet more silk cloths. Definitely reminiscent of Paris, he thought.

"Can I help you with anything?" she asked sultrily, stroking her hand down his arm to cup his palm her in hand.

"No, actually you can't" Vicky stepped up in front of him. Henry rolled his eyes, marveling at how quickly women switched modes from calm and normal to insanely jealous. The woman was actually quite attractive and he was feeling a little like a midnight snack, but it wouldn't do to let Vicky know that. She disapproved of his drinking habits as it was, no need to flaunt the vintages in front of her eyes.

"What she means is that we're looking for someone specific who said she worked here" Henry answered, braving Vicky's disapproval.

"I'm sure that I can assist you in any way that whoever you're looking for could."

Vicky couldn't help but notice that there was a slight stress and that the girl eyes traveled in a downwards glance on the word _any_. And the girl still hadn't removed her hand from Henry's arm. It wasn't hard to imagine how Henry had managed to stay so well fed for so long- this girl was practically throwing herself at him! And Henry, damn him, seemed more amused then annoyed with the whole situation, as if he knew that it was making her squirm and was enjoying the fact.

"Humm.." Henry cleared his throat, looking between the woman and Vicky who seemed to be just about to come to blows if he didn't intercede. Luckily he didn't have to decide what he would say, because right then Jay materialized from behind what was probably the only door not covered in beads and marked with a clear 'employee's only' sign.

"Vicky" he warned, nodding over her shoulder that the real witch had entered the room.

"Thanks, but we've already found what we were looking for" Vicky said, reaching across Henry to grab the arm that the girl was still holding onto, and pulling him towards the front counter. If he were honest, Henry probably held back and let her pull him just a little more then he had too. He loved it when she got that spark of anger in her eyes.

"Wait!" the so-called-fortune teller called, grabbing onto Henry's coat. "She doesn't even really work here, she's just the front desk girl- makes appointments, stocks the shelves, that sort of thing. She can't help you."

"Why don't you let us decide that?" Vicky said, a note of coolness seeping into her voice.

"She's not supposed to talk to the customers-if you want a reading you'll have to come with me" she pulled slightly on Henry's sleeve.

"It must be kind of hard to book appointments if she's not allowed to talk to anyone" Vicky retorted, getting a better grip on Henry's other arm.

Henry was trying very hard not to let a very inappropriate smile break out on his face at the hilarity of the whole situation despite the very real threat to one of his favorite coats. But that spark in Vicky's eyes had become a blaze and he decided that he should probably put an end to this before she incinerated the woman.

"You can't help us" He said, his voice dropping low and hypnotic like it always did when he used his vampire persuasion. "We just want to talk to the girl, she's an old friend so we don't want to be disturbed."

"Oh, of course!" The woman smiled, releasing Henry. "Since you're a good friend if you decide you want a reading when you're done just let me know. On the house" she added and walked into one the curtained rooms.

Henry looked back at Vicky, he couldn't help the smug smile that kept tugging at his lips.

"Neat trick that" Vicky mused "Too bad you don't use it more often"

"As often as it is called for" Henry responded, trailing Vicky to the counter behind which Jay stood taking bags and wrapped items out of a large box.

"So, I found a lead on your brother" Vicky began conversationally, leaning against the end of the counter. "He's not actually looking so good, black eyes, blue skin, a bit of an overbite problem."

"Ms. Nelson" Jay answered, unwrapping a blue glass bottle and placing it on the shelf behind her. "I see you did find the time after all, somehow I thought you might." She smiled at Henry. "You're certainly looking better then last time."

"I do try" Henry said, casually moving so that he was between her and Vicky.

"I'm pretty certain your...brother?, is dead, by the way" he added.

"I'm positive he is" Jay answered.

"And what? You just forgot to mention that when you stopped by earlier?" Vicky asked, moving out from behind Henry, but still staying out of arms reach of Jay.

"It really seemed rather inconsequential at the time, I mean it's not as if he's really dead in the traditional sense of the word now is he? Besides, that really wasn't the main purpose of my visit." Jay looked pointedly up at Henry, a challenge in her eyes.

"So asking my friend to track down a dead man who could easily kill her was what? your way of introducing yourself?"

"You're here aren't you? It seems to have worked rather well, and your friend certainly doesn't look dead."

Jay reached into the box again, her hand rustling through the packing paper. Henry remembered what those hands could do when out of sight and stepped in front of Vicky again. He knew that Jay didn't need to be close enough to touch someone to harm them...or kill them.

She smiled at his reaction, pulling a bag of what appeared to be fake vampire teeth of all things out of the box and pouring them into a container marked 5/each.

"Want a pair?" she asked, looking beyond Henry to Vicky. "No charge."

"No thanks" Vicky answered.

She looked at Henry.

"I've already got some" He smiled, a rare real smile that showed off his teeth to their best.

"Ah, so you're not here for cheap plastic do-dads, don't want a fortune reading or psychic consolation-both of which are Krystals specialty by the way. What exactly is it you're after then?"

"I want to know exactly what it is that I fought tonight" Henry stated bluntly. "Since it was your brother, you should know...unless he isn't really your brother, but somehow I think you'd have a fairly good idea of what he is anyways."

Jay smiled, unwrapping more bottles of various sizes, shapes and colours and setting them carefully out of the box.

"In fact" Henry continued "I'd go so far as to say that you asked Vicky to look into this specifically to get me involved. Now I want to know why." His voice dropped low again, the last sentence nearly a growl as he pushed at her mind for compliance.

"You're right about the brother part, he isn't my brother, but then that doesn't really surprise either of you. As for the rest of it... I can tell you want you want to know, and I hate to be cliché about it, but exactly how much is it worth to you?"

Henry reached out grabbing Jay by the throat and pulling her towards him over the counter.

"You want to barter for information while that thing is out there?" he hissed, anger overriding good sense.

"Henry!" Vicky exclaimed, rushing forwards to grab his arm. "Let her go! We're not going to get anywhere if you strangle her!"

Henry ignored her, still holding on but it was hard to keep his grip on her throat when her turtleneck kept slipping between his fingers. He would squeeze the answers out of her if he had too. But when he looked up, he saw her eyes swirl with purple glints in the brown irises and her hand raised just ever so slightly towards Vicky, who was now closer and out from behind Henry. He dropped her immediately, pushing Vicky behind him once again. Why he hadn't tied her to her desk and come alone baffled him.

"Everything always has a cost," she croaked.

"Come on Henry" Vicky pulled at his arm again. "Coreen's probably found something out by now."

"Your friend won't come up with anything, I'm afraid. Hollywood has rather bastardized what he is into something that doesn't even remotely resemble its true form...and even that has been rather well hidden."

Vicky turned to go and was half way to the door before Jay spoke again.

"Would it be worth any more to you if I told you that he was what has been responsible for the killings in the city lately?"

Vicky stopped and turned around.

"I've tracked him from Winnipeg to Ottawa to here. The same style of kills will show up in each of those cities if you look. And if you don't remember, let me fill in the details; people kidnapped, missing for one day only before showing up dead, no marks on the bodies, men, women, even animals but completely drained of blood...Oh and there's some bruising around the lips and mouth-small tears on the inside of the victims lips that appear self inflicted-if you don't look too closely that is."

Vicky closed her eyes briefly. Those kinds of details hadn't been released to the public-she'd only found out about the wounds this evening. She couldn't afford not to believe Jay that the walking dead man showing up in town and the murders weren't related.

"What do you want?" Vicky asked, unable to look at Henry but equally unable to walk away from what might be something that could help Mike solve this case. He'd been in rather hot water lately for all the risks he's taken for her and was facing a review board in a matter of weeks. They could demand his badge, he'd loose his job, and it would be completely Vicky's fault. If Mike could close this case it would look really good for him.

"Just a little information in turn" Jay answered.

Vicky didn't like the way she said that, whatever it was that she wanted Vicky was pretty sure by her tone of voice that it wasn't _little_. And like she said, everything had a cost.

"Henry..." Vicky turned to look at him, the unspoken question in her eyes. Whatever it was this witch wanted, it was to do with Henry, not her. She couldn't say yes, knowing that it would be Henry who had to pay the price in the end. It had to be his choice.

Henry knew that she was thinking about Mike, that it was the possibility of helping him on this case that had made Vicky stop and turn around, willing to listen to what Jay had to say. But when she looked at him like that... he'd end the world for her when she looked at him like she was right now.

"What is he?" Henry asked.

Jay raised her eyebrows, leaning her arms onto the counter and waiting.

"I'll tell you whatever you want to know, if I can" he said resigned.

She sat back and smiled. "What do you know about ghouls?" She asked.


	8. Chapter 8

Blood ties, Blood Bond pt

Blood ties, Blood Bond pt. 8

"_Ghouls?!_" Vicky asked incredulous. "You're telling us that...that whatever it was tonight, was a ghoul?!"

Jay winced briefly, before looking around the shop. Krystal was still in one of the back rooms and otherwise it appeared empty, but someone could just walk in any minute. Even though this was a magic shop, what they had to discuss was better not overheard by the common passerby and would raise questions even here.

"Are you sure you won't reconsider that palm reading, Ms. Nelson?" Jay asked innocently.

"Sure. Who doesn't want to know their future right?" Vicky answered sarcastically and let Jay lead them to one of the client rooms. Jay held the curtains open while Vicky and then Henry passed through before entering the room herself. As her hand brushed the curtain closed, Vicky could have sworn that the beads glinted as if hit with light, but there wasn't any lamp or candle and the door was shadowed by their entrance. All the same, Vicky noticed that Henry watched Jay warily and always tried to insert his body between them.

Jay sat at one side of the table that filled the small room. A crystal ball was on the center of the table and Vicky eyed it incredulously.

"You going to look into that thing and make all the answers to the universe come clear?" she asked.

"I would have thought with all of your experience that you wouldn't be so quick to judge what appears as strange. Skepticism is for the blind Ms. Nelson."

Vicky opened her mouth to make some retort to what obviously was a stab at her vision, but she noticed that Jay's hands had moved to play over the crystal while she spoke and that lights were beginning to stream inside it, like stars being born and streaking across the sky.

"Nice trick," Henry commented. "I've known people who were burned at the stake for less."

"Who says I haven't been burned?" Jay answered, looking up and meeting Henry's gaze with a challenge and a darkness of her own.

"I don't really think that history is what you came here to discuss" she said after the silence stretched, indicating the chairs on the other side of the table for them to sit.

Henry stoically remained standing, eyeing the chair as if it could jump up and bite him, and taking her clue from him, Vicky did the same.

Jay sighed, rolling her eyes. "I've fixed it so that they can't hear us in here, but they can still see us. Pretenses can be useful" she nodded towards the empty chairs again, her hands resting, clearly visible and relaxed on the table as she watched Henry and waited for his decision like there was all the time in the world.

When it became painfully apparent that Jay would remain silent until they sat down, he pulled out the chair for Vicky and then sat down himself. When Vicky went to stretch out her hands to assume the appearance of a palm reading however, he quickly brushed them back under the table and stretched out his own instead. He didn't want Jay touching any part of Vicky, let alone getting a good look at the marks left from Asteroth's calling. She was too powerful for him to risk her knowing anything more about Vicky then she already did and the marks, as well as the physical contact might tell her things that he'd rather keep hidden from her-and the world.

Jay snorted in derision. "You worry about what I am able to do to her from a distance and yet you think me incompetent enough not to notice them the moment you both walked in? The moment I first entered her office?"

She turned to look at Vicky, "I'll admit to being curious, it's not often that you come across those on people who are still alive. But they're yours, just as surely as the skin they're written on. I won't pry, but if you'd like an opinion I'll give it."

Vicky nodded feeling slightly shaken, but kept her hands under the table. If Henry was worried then it wasn't for nothing and she'd learned to trust his instincts. She wouldn't say that she wasn't tempted to know more about her marks, about their connection to Asteroth, and something told her that jay's offer wasn't minor, but right now they had bigger problems to deal with. If it were possible to have bigger problems then being tied to a demon who wanted to come and devour the world whole, that is.

Apparently done with the introductions, jay turned back to Henry and taking his palm in her hand, for all appearances giving a normal run of the mill fortune reading began to talk, and as she continued speaking Vicky began to shiver.

"Yes" She began, taking up with their earlier conversation, "I'm telling you that what you saw earlier was a ghoul. They're not what you think they are, the Hollywood Johnny Depp version has been rather falsely equated with a zombie- just plain old ordinary walking dead. As you might have noticed there are some unique differences."

She glanced up at Henry as if in confirmation, but when he remained silent continued.

"They're not just dead. Oh, in the traditional medical sense they are; no heartbeat, no respiration, no pupil dilation, or reaction to pain...they're strong, fast, you can injure them but it doesn't do much to slow them down and it takes almost complete disarticulation of their limbs to stop them. Even then they'll keep trying until you burn them."

She paused again, reaching to unbutton Henry's cuff and rolling his sleeve up to expose his wrist before meeting his eyes.

"They're what happens when a vampire tries to turn a person and it goes wrong."

Henry tried to pull away but she had a good hold of his wrist now and managed to keep him in place. He was too shocked to think of using his supernatural strength, but none the less she released his arm once the initial reaction passed.

"That's not possible" Henry hissed, leaning across the table. "I'd know if that was possible, if it had **ever** happened."

"Oh yeah?" she retorted. "and exactly how many people have you tried to turn? What's the personal experience that you base this on? The fact that vampires can't lie like mortal people? It's happened. Ask around if you don't believe me. Or what's your explanation for a walking dead something-or-another that's not zombie slow and stupid and has fangs?"

Henry collapsed back into the chair, his hands falling into his lap. She was right, he had no idea what was really possible-just what he'd assumed. He had believed that Christina would have told him, had told him everything that was necessary or pertinent for vampires, but what if she hadn't? It wouldn't be the first time that she'd lied or deceived him.

Jay reached and pulled the crystal ball towards her, now that the pretense of Henry's palm reading was over they needed another ruse. Vicky noticed that while she moved her hands over the surface, this time she was careful not to actually touch the glass and no lights or stars appeared.

"It can be accidental, there are individuals who for whatever reason-age, genetic disposition, environment, whatever, just can't survive the shock of dying and then coming back-or at least can't survive it all the way. Or it can be intentional- a form of punishment...torture. They die, slowly from blood loss without enough of the virus in their system to instigate the change fully...vampire blood reacts much the same way that a virus does, it invades the host cells and then uses them to produce more of its own kind, destroying and changing the cellular makeup of the host until it's the only thing left. It happens incredibly fast, a matter of hours and what essentially happens is that the person dies and then is changed and lives again. Only with ghouls, there's not enough blood to fully complete the change. The person dies, they come back, but their body remains dead. In order to stay alive and keep their tissues from decaying they have to ingest live human blood, but unlike a vampire, they have to have enough to fill their whole body with it because they don't have any of their own."

"So why not just bite them and get it over with?" Vicky asked "Why draw it out with small nips and scratches?"

"Their teeth don't work the same way" Jay answered. "Because they never fully completed the change all their teeth can do it tear, not actually drink...plus they need new blood often. They face the same limitations as vampires do in regards to the sunlight, but they don't suffer from the lethargy and coma-like reaction. They need to slowly drink from their victim over the day in order to survive. Cut open an artery, and they'll bleed out long before dusk."

"So it's keeping them alive, all day long, torturing them and slowly killing them by drinking their blood until they die?" Vicky said, horrified at the thought. What those people must have gone through, all day in some dark space trapped with that creature...she was really glad that their families would never have to know. And even if they did find out-they'd never believe it anyways.

"How exactly did you learn this?" Henry asked. He knew now why she'd insisted on bringing the conversation into a private room, why she had been so cryptic before about what it was, or more importantly what it wasn't-a zombie. This ghoul could indirectly expose the existence of vampires. It was a threat to their whole existence and he couldn't allow it to continue killing people and leaving a big trail that lead straight to vampires-and himself. "And why haven't I heard of it before now?"

"It's not exactly something that's allowed to become common knowledge. You generally find out through personal experience or someone tells you, I guess it's both with you." She watched Henry, who still sat back in his chair looking drained and unbelieving-or as if he desperately didn't want to believe her but couldn't stop his ears from hearing the truth in her words.

"How did you know what it was?" Vicky asked, slowly recovering her composure. It took a lot to shake her, after all, she had worked homicide for years before becoming a private investigator. She thought that she'd seen it all, grizzly murders, drug busts gone bad, but this seemed to create a trembling somewhere deep inside her that she just couldn't make stop.

"I told you, I tracked it from Winnipeg to Ottawa to here. Same killings in each place. I was almost in time to stop it from happening to begin with...if I'd only been a little faster I could have taken it's head that first night..."

"Why'd it leave? I mean, why keep moving like that? It seems pretty dangerous if like you say it can't take the sunlight."

"It retains the knowledge from when it was alive, which loosely means that it remembers that a lot of murders in one place will attract undue attention. Also this particular ghoul has an agenda. It's not just randomly moving to avoid the police-that's reasonably pointless anyways and we can probably assume that it's actively seeking the attention now, but it has a reason for moving so much, a reason for coming here."

With that Jay looked pointedly up at Henry, who still sat unmoving and slumped in the chair, waiting for him to ask.

"Why?" Vicky asked, steeling herself for what was about to happen, cause whatever it was it was the real reason that they were here.

"It's trying to draw you out" Jay explained, still talking solely to Henry as if Vicky weren't even there even though she was the one who had asked the question. "it's intelligent, can reason and see connections. It came here looking for you and has started killing to send a message, to get you involved so that it can find out what it wants to know."

"And what, pray tell is that?" Henry sounded tired, resigned.

"It wants to know where its maker is, the person who meant to slowly torture him to death but fled when something when wrong and he didn't die all the way. It wants to know where Christina is. And so do I."


	9. Chapter 9

Blood ties Blood Bond pt

Blood ties Blood Bond pt. 9

Mike dialed Vicky's cell for the third time that night and when she didn't pick up-again- decided to try her at the office. After the first two times, he'd checked his phone's battery and service but when both were fine there were only two possibilities; either she'd turned off her phone to avoid having to take his calls and arrange a meeting between him and Henry, or she was in trouble. Knowing Vicky, it was probably the latter.

"Good Evening, Vicky Nelson Investigations, how may I help you?" Coreen answered.

"Coreen, it's Mike, I'm looking for Vicky, is she in?"

"Mike! Hi! I'm sorry you've missed her, she and Henry left about a half hour ago to look into a lead."

"So, she's come up with something about the case then?" Mike asked hopefully. It would be worth it to have had to involve Fitzroy if it meant that this killer wouldn't see another day on the streets and another person wouldn't be found murdered tomorrow night. And you know what they say; if you want to catch a killer, find someone who can think like one-or who is one.

"Actually...she's looking into the identity of a witch who attacked Henry last night, it might be related...indirectly..."

Mike counted to ten before he responded...one...two...she was out looking for some girl who had run into Henry last night...three...four...when there was a serial killer out there who had a new victim every night...five...six...even if he didn't think that her reaction was basically the reaction of a typical jealous girlfriend...seven...eight...and he wasn't saying that it wasn't what he was thinking...nine...ten...they did have more pressing matters then the shocking occurrence of a girl attacking Henry rather then the other way around.

"See, she was looking for her brother, only he's probably not her real brother, but Henry fought something that looked a lot like the guy she described earlier only now it was dead and a zombie fang monster...it could be the killer." Coreen had continued to talk while he was fuming.

"Where is she Coreen?"

"They were going to a magic store, Mystic Mystique, the witch works there."

"Well, where else would you find a witch?" Mike answered sardonically. He rubbed at his temple wondering if Vicky could give him grey hairs as well as a headache from a distance.

"Okay. Listen Coreen, if she checks in, tell her to call me. Right away. Got that?"

"Call Mike. Yup...Mike? be careful okay? Henry said that this girl was dangerous."

"What makes you think that I don't have more important things to do tonight then running after Vicky and her pet vampire?" Mike asked.

There was a rather feminine sarcastic rich silence from the other end of the phone, which was pretty much his answer. Cause he was already making an illegal u-turn and going back towards the arts district to find a particular magic shop, a witch, a vampire, and one annoying women who he was seriously considering throttling.

--

Henry was out of his chair and across the table before Vicky could do so much as get the breath to warn Jay, or berate him, she couldn't decide which. This time he was deadly serious though, he'd pinned jay's arms above her head with one hand and was holding her throat with the other. Vicky noticed as she rounded the table that Jay's feet actually dangled a few inches off the floor.

"You Lie" Henry stated. Simple as fact, as breathing, as if he were saying that the sun would rise tomorrow and the traffic downtown would be bad.

"The problem is not that you think I'm lying" Jay croaked with the last of the air in her lungs. "The problem is that from past experience you know I'm right."

Henry snarled and tightened his grip, his fangs exposed and daring her to think that any part of him believed her now.

"Henry..." Vicky approached him with caution. She'd never seen him like this, so out of control. He was more animal, more vampire, then man right now and she didn't know what he would do if she got too close to him, and what was obviously his prey. "Let go, Henry."

She inched closer and dared to lay a hand on his arm that was holding Jay in the air.

"Her lips are turning blue Henry."

Henry spun towards her his lips pulled back in a growl, clearly menacing her away, and despite herself Vicky took a step back. But he had been forced to pull jay down from the wall to turn towards her and now he pushed her back but her feet stayed touching the ground. And it may have just been Vicky's hopeful imagination but she thought that his hands were a little less tight on Jay's throat, even though they retained a crushing grip.

"So Christina's never lied to you, never turned someone without their consent, never run away from her responsibility to guide a newborn?" The last word was squeezed out and Vicky's relief that Henry was relaxing enough to let Jay breathe turned into worry again.

"What do you know about it?" Henry snarled. "She would Never Do _This_-what you say she's done."

"But she did do it Henry." Vicky said quietly, something becoming painfully clear about her earlier meeting with Jay. She stepped forward again but stopped when he growled.

"She did, that last time. You told me, Jay told me in her story, but I never connected it until now." Vicky was speaking slowly, patently, trying to sooth Henry with her voice and her calm even while the blood drained from Jay's face and her lips and skin were taking on a blue-ish tone again.

"When Christina came to Toronto before, there was a boy, she said that he was stalking her, was threatening to expose her as a vampire or kill her. She needed your help."

Henry's hands relaxed slightly at the memory and encouraged Vicky continued.

"But when you found him, he was a vampire. He knew nothing about what he was, about what had happened, only that Christina had lied to him and taken away everything that he'd ever cared about-his family, his life, the sun. That's what happened with this man-this ghoul Henry. Maybe she didn't mean to do, maybe it was an accident...but it doesn't matter now. What matters is that it's out there, killing people and is going to need to find someone again tonight to survive the day. We can talk about the why's and who's later. We need to stop it now."

Henry slumped slightly but still did not release Jay even though his hands relaxed. Vicky could hear a slight wheezing noise as she struggled for air through a windpipe that was probably bruised and crushed.

"Your right." Henry answered finally, the man in him overriding the vampire and he dropped Jay to the floor. "What matters now is stopping it. We'll have plenty of time to talk about who created it-and what you want with Christina-later." A chilly smile accompanied his words and left Vicky wondering if Mike had been right after all about the dangers that Henry posed. She wasn't sure if she really knew who, or what, he was anymore. She knew that he'd killed in the past, but the look that he gave Jay right now was the look of someone who enjoyed killing, who would enjoy getting the information out of this girl in whatever ways and however long that it took.

"Where is it?" Henry's voice dropped and he hauled Jay up to her feet, slamming her against the wall again.

"Where did you find me looking for it, that first night?" Jay answered, her voice no more then a whisper.

"Queen's park" Vicky mused. "That fits Henry, Mike's killer was starting to concentrate around the University area, the park is right in the center. We can be there in less then a half hour."

"No. You're going back to the office." Henry replied, finality in his voice.

"Henry, you can't go alone! It's too dangerous, you said that it nearly got you last time!"

"I was surprised. It won't happen again.

"And we're partners- I can't let you go alone."

"I wasn't asking your permission Victoria" and with that, Henry was gone, one second there, the next only a breeze blowing the curtain and clinking the beads together. Vicky knelt beside Jay, where she had crumpled to the floor when Henry left, practically dropping her. Even in the darkened room, and with Vicky's failing eyesight, the harsh bruises of Henry's fingers where they curled around her jaw could be seen.

"If you still doubt me" Jay said, apparently to the empty doorway "ask it what it wants with you. I'm sure you'll get the same answer I gave." She dissolved into a fit of coughing.

--

Mike was just pulling open the door to the magic shop when he was nearly hit in the head by it with Vicky forcefully slamming it open-if you could slam a door open that is- and coming out from inside. She looked shaken but also angry too, a really bad combination and Mike immediately began to doubt if it had been a good idea to come looking for her. It seemed about as logical as looking for a natural disaster right about now.

"Mike" she said as if it wasn't a complete surprise to find him standing outside a magic shop in the middle of the night, as if it was a regular occurrence and he had a standing weekly appointment with a psychic to give him insights into his failing love life.

"I need you to drive me to Queen's park, as fast as we can possibly get there. Henry's in trouble."

"Oh well then! Do you want me to use lights and sirens or will the magic carpet do?"

"Mike! This is serious!"

"Vicky, forgive me for not rushing off to Henry's rescue but we do have bigger problems then helping Henry track down a happy-meal witch tonight."

"What? how did you...? We found the witch anyways, that's not what this is about, although she's probably going to be nothing but trouble either."

"Vicky! You're not making sense! You do remember that we've got a serial killer out there who's right now probably kidnapping another victim, right?"

"That's what I'm trying to say Mike!" Vicky actually stomped her foot in consternation. "Henry is off looking for it right now, and if we don't get there soon he'll actually find it and he can't handle it alone! So we've got to go! Now!"

"Why didn't you say so?" Mike asked, looking so innocently confused that Vicky could have hit him in her impatience.

Mike reached in his pockets for the keys, going around to the other side of the car before he paused, key in the door as something occurred to him.

"Did you say '**it**'?" He asked with a sinking feeling of dread coming over him. Sure, the case did have supernatural elements, but this was taking things just a little too far for him.

"I'll explain on the way, please lets just get going!"

--

Henry stalked the shadows of the park, extending his senses into the night looking for anything that might be familiar from his last encounter with the ghoul. He still didn't want to believe the witch that it had been Christina who made it, but if he accepted that then everything else seemed to click into place like when a picture comes clear after adding the last puzzle piece. Either way he was going to get some answers from it this time. Then he'd kill it and go back and deal with the witch.

He crouched behind some bushes not that far from where he'd followed Jay that first night and they'd fought the demon. He sniffed the air and listened to the night. There were birds, their fast twittery heartbeats above him in the trees, a squirrel ran from one branch to another, wary in the darkness. And far off, just into the park a couple made love under the moonlight. Henry left them and turned his focus inwards again.

There. To the north, there was the scent of death, of decaying flesh and he heard a muffled thump and then shuffling.

Henry moved quickly in that direction, streaking to the edge of a small hill where two paths crossed and there was a modern concrete statue. He looked around, careful this time so that there would be no surprises. The ghoul was directly below him, not more then 20 meters away...but it had already found its victim for tonight. A girl lay crumpled in the grass in front of it and Henry could see the bright red of her blood staining her yellow hair. She was scantily dressed, all tight bright clothes and skin and Henry glanced around, making out the dark form of a man at the base of the statue. There wasn't a heartbeat.

His lip curled in a snarl, and he started down the slope making his entrance deliberate and slowly. He wanted answers and once the fighting started he doubted that he would get any.

The ghoul looked up as Henry reached the plateau, still slightly crouched in front of it's victim as if on guard. Which was exactly as Henry would have behaved if another vampire was threatening his prey. Not liking the turn his thoughts were taking, Henry paused and held his hands slightly away from his sides in the universal gesture for being unarmed. It was interesting how many customs from the past survived sometimes.

"What do you want with me?" He asked. He'd caught Jay's last remarks when he'd left the store and as frustrating as it was that she knew that he would hear her, he was interested in the answer.

Its mouth worked for a moment before answering, as if it had trouble forming the words or remembering what use they were.

"She-" hatred in the word "...Must Pay" It managed, eyes burning at Henry, demanding agreement.

"Who has to pay? Why?"

"Did...This" the ghoul gestured at itself and the girl laying unconscious on the ground and Henry almost winced with the pain and self loathing that the single motion displayed. In his mind he was seeing another young man, standing on a catwalk in a theater, saying how he couldn't face life like this, how he couldn't live knowing that he'd thought about feeding off his sister, about how much it would hurt his family to know what he had become, that his soul was doomed. He'd asked Henry to end his life, and Henry had complied- it was the only appeasement he could offer.

"I could end it for you" Henry offered, his mind still replaying the past conversation "You wouldn't kill again, it would be over."

"NO." The harsh refusal in that single word shook Henry out the past. "Must...PAY"

It was angry now, angry that Henry had failed to see its point, what was clearly the only reason for its continued existence that whatever-and he admitted-whoever had done this to it had to be made to pay before it died.

The ghoul dropped into a defensive crouch, ready to jump and attack him if he should make a move.

"Who?" Henry asked, holding completely still, his entire focus on the ghoul and its mangled speech. Everything poised on this question. "Who needs to pay?"


	10. Chapter 10

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 10.

"Christina" It snarled, barely human the word so filled with hate and anger it shook Henry backwards, the name itself stabbing him with pain.

"Henry!"

Vicky had suffered through the torturously slow drive to Queen's park replaying all the worst possibilities in her mind. Even with Mike driving faster then was legally allowed or probably safe, it seemed to take an eternity. By the time she finally reached the top of the rise and looked down her head was filled with images of Henry wounded, torn and bleeding, or dead.

She could barely make out the ghoul poised to strike out at Henry, her vision clouded and colours muted in the dark. And then Henry staggered as if hurt, and her own heart seemed to stop.

She called his name and was moving before she could even think about it, before Mike could hold her back, the only thought that mattered was to get to Henry.

Vicky's voice wrenched Henry back from the pain of hearing that Christina was responsible for this mans-ghouls- existence, the killings, all the suffering...he looked up to see her coming towards him in the dark, back lit by the light she looked the definition of luminous and for a second all of his long life narrowed so that all that he could remember was her-smiling at him sardonically that first-and only-evening he'd woken up with her, twirling his sword while he tried-unsuccessfully-to keep his mind on his work…

But that second was enough, the ghoul turned away from him and was focused now on Vicky.

She raised her baton and held it out to the side, ready but warning it off. Whatever it was now it had once been a man and Vicky wouldn't kill it unless she had no other option.

It swiped at her with nails now grown to talon length that she just barely managed to duck and under and brought her baton up in a solid block against its forearm. The blow numbed her hand and sent pains shooting up her elbow, but she heard the distinctive crack that was the bones breaking and dodged back sending a second blow to its left knee, breaking the kneecap to knock it off its feet.

But it barely registered the injuries using her second hit to pivot around and catch her in a glancing blow that sent her flat on her back with unnatural green lights mixing with the few stars overhead.

It was looming over her, long clawed hand reaching down and into her field of vision when a series of shots rang out, each one slowly but surely forcing it backwards and away from her.

Her eyes cleared and she looked up to find Mike making his way towards her, gun still trained on the ghoul and steadily firing, giving her enough time to roll away and get to her feet again.

But even Mike's bullets had done little but force it a step or two back and now he was out of ammunition.

It grabbed ahold of Mike's arm that was holding the now useless gun and pulling him close, his hand closing until Mike was forced to drop it. It went to throw Mike into the trees, but Henry suddenly stepped in and catching ahold of it around the throat from behind pulled it back so that Mike landed harmlessly a few feet away by the statue-out cold from the impact but still alive.

Henry forced its head back and Vicky winced but sighed in relief when she heard the crunch of its neck breaking, only to stare incredulous when its arms continued to reach around and leave long gouges in Henry's back and shoulders. He hissed and let go, ducking under an arm and leaving a score of deep furrows along its side in turn.

Nothing seemed to stop it or even make it pause, but determined not to let Henry face it alone, Vicky carefully started to try and get around behind it and close enough to get another hit in, at this point any damage she could do to it would work!

Henry slashed out again, desperate to end it now that Vicky was approaching again and he scored a long deep cut along its arm, bone showing white against the blood that didn't so much bleed as ooze out from the wound. But it cost him, the ghoul had caught him around the chest with its other arm as he'd dodged in and pulled him close, squeezing until Henry could feel his ribs cracking with the force.

Vicky stepped close now, all pretenses of stealth abandoned when it got its hands on Henry, and struck it hard across the back of the neck, in what would normally be a lethal blow. When that didn't even register, she tried the back of the knee's but again, while she heard bones break, it still didn't even seem to notice.

Henry was trying to break free, and avoid the ghouls fangs which were trying to rip his own throat out, but with his hands pinned all he could do was tear at the creatures legs and sides, which seemed to be having as little impact as Vicky's blows were.

As she moved around to the side, Vicky noticed scratches on Henry's neck where the ghoul was darting in with its fangs and had grazed the skin. Enraged she brought the wide end of her baton down on its elbow, crushing the joint which made its arm extend and Henry could slip free. But it had left her vulnerable and as she looked to see that Henry was out of its grasp it turned and swung, with its unnatural strength a blow like that could kill her.

Henry stepped in the way, in between her and the ghoul, and taking the blow straight on it sent him flying backward without any way to brace for it. Vicky heard the impact of its fist against his chest and watched as he landed a few meters away, but slowly fought to get up again, making it to his knee's, blood dripping onto the grass.

Her relief was short lived however, as she realized that once again she was alone facing the ghoul and this time both Mike and Henry weren't close enough to save her.

Its first punch nearly knocked her out and sent her falling backwards to the ground, where she tried to move blindly away while struggling to maintain consciousness. Somehow she'd managed to hold on to her baton and she swung it at the hand that reached down at her, heard the solid impact of metal on flesh briefly before it too was pulled out her hand and she fell back. She looked up dazed and struck out kicking in its kneecap and sending bone protruding through the skin, but it didn't even stop to look. It raised her own baton, sharp end pointed down ready to impale her.

Henry pulled himself to his feet, hand cradling his sternum and what was probably a lot of broken bones and ribs in his chest, only to feel all his other injuries fade into cuts and scrapes by the agonizing pain when he looked back to Vicky. She was lying on the ground, one side of her face already bruising, bleeding, struggling back away from the ghoul that held her night stick pointed above her. He knew that he was too far away, that even with all his strength and powers and abilities he couldn't get there in time to stop it, he could only watch-horrified and denying-while she died.

Vicky watched as it raised the baton-she wasn't ready, there were still so many things unsaid and undone-she looked back at Henry, even in the darkness, even with her bad eyesight she met his eyes once and saw the pain there, the helplessness and despair, the knowledge that he was too late, too far….she looked back at the ghoul, determined to look death straight in the face as it brought down the baton.

Only to have it glance off a foot in the air from her chest, sending sparks and light streaking down in an arc over her. Vicky looked around astonished, tears springing to her eyes-she'd never been so happy to see the muted and faded colours of the night as she was right then!

The ghoul struck again-and again-each time it bounced off the protective….bubble and Vicky was left unharmed. But by now, Henry had overcome his initial shock-the sight of Vicky lying helpless on the ground before that creature would never leave him completely-and he'd rushed forward catching the ghoul from behind while it was still focused on Vicky and hurling it back with his claws leaving long marks.

Henry stood there, above her, just looking down as if he couldn't quite make his head believe his eyes, before he slowly reached down. He wanted-no needed, to touch her, to feel her warm skin against his body and convince himself that she was alive that she was alright.

Vicky could only just stare back at him, she felt a little like sleeping beauty, or Cinderella….that when Henry touched her, when he pulled her up and into his arms like she knew he would, her whole life would be changed and she would wake up- like when sleeping beauty was kissed by the prince, or Cinderella's shoe was slipped onto her foot.

She was actually holding her breath, watching Henry's hand come closer and closer to her…

"Sorry I'm late" a voice cut in from above them and pressed a metal hilt into Henry's hand that was only inches from her face.

"I do hate to interrupt, but walking dead there isn't just going to obligingly crawl into a grave on his own."

Vicky looked up past her head and noticed Jay standing there, leaning casually against a sword pointed against the ground. She looked so calm and confident it automatically set Vicky's teeth on edge, exactly who could look so natural with a sword these days anyways?!

But Jay's arrival did explain the odd phenomenon that had probably just saved her life a few minutes ago…and she was right-damn her- the ghoul was up and trudging back towards them again, hampered only slightly by it's obviously broken leg and knee….and neck.

"You seem to be doing a rather…umm…interesting job of it so far…" Jay looked pointedly around, taking in Henry's injuries and blood soaked clothing, Vicky's bruises and prone position and bringing her attention to Mike and the ghouls victims lying at the base of the statue.

"But would you mind if I gave it a go? See, the goal of the game really is to kill it, and right now, you're loosing. And no, offense, but I really don't like to loose." And with that, she jumped into a roll that brought her to her feet right in front of the ghoul and managed to sever its arm with the first strike.

The ghoul backed up but wasn't deterred and approached again catching her second thrust with an open palm and striking in towards her neck with its teeth. Jay stepped in towards it, making it over shoot and then pushing it away she pulled her sword free of its hand, cutting off a few fingers in the process.

Henry was circling around behind it, the sword she'd pushed in his hand at the ready and while Jay made a downward swipe at its right leg, he drove in through the chest.

It spun around to try and bite at him, the force pulling the sword from his hand and Vicky had to pinch her lips closed on inappropriate laughter at the sight of the ghoul flailing back and forth with a medieval sword of all things protruding through it's chest like a pin in a pincushion…she realized that she was probably quickly sliding into shock and pushed the feeling down, crawling over to where Mike was lying and just beginning to groggily stir. The blonde girl was still out cold though and when Vicky bent her head to listen to her breathing it was shallow.

Henry snarled, fangs and nails displayed menacingly, trying to draw the ghouls' attention back to him so that jay could get another hit in. It turned half way back toward him and she lunged in-striking for its neck. Vicky remembered the comment she's made earlier about almost taking its head and realized that she, in fact, hadn't been speaking metaphorically.

Jay threw herself quickly back and out of reach of the sword point that had almost cut through her arm as the ghoul swung around. Dodging under its arm she got around behind it and pulled the sword out, throwing it to Henry and cutting at one leg as she rolled the other way.

"Less stabbing" Jay advised, feigning to the right then striking back at the still remaining left arm. "More beheading…I guess some instincts aren't inherited" she challenged, plunging her sword through the hip joint and pulling it up to try and sever that leg from the rest of the body.

It would have worked too Vicky though, only the ghoul moved with her turning into the blade and cutting open Jay's side with it's claw-like nails. The red of her blood immediately stained her side, even through her clothing but she didn't let go of the sword and managed to pull it up and through, almost removing the leg.

Henry finished it off from behind and with one leg and one arm gone it was pretty much incapacitated, and he was able to slice off its head with a clean stroke. Vicky had to look away as its body continued to move even missing its head.

"Gather the pieces" Jay instructed, and Vicky swallowed quickly, tasting bile as she noticed that a disarticulated arm was inching its way toward her and Mike. Henry quickly speared it with his sword a look of disgust on his face as he carried it back held out at arms length near the rest of the body.

"What now?" Vicky asked.

"We burn it, unless you'd rather have your friend there take it back to lock-up and explain why it's dead and in pieces but still moving….and then there's what's going to happens in the morning if it gets a cell with an eastern exposure…"

"Believe me" Mike said, sitting up somewhat unsteadily and leaning on Vicky but conscious "I really don't want to be the one explaining that….I don't even know how I could explain that."

Jay turned away from them and towards the still wriggling body of the ghoul, she stood still almost posed, one hand holding her side that was bleeding while the other sketched a symbol in the air and as Vicky watch the symbol went from an indistinct wavering of the night to a burning, twisting red flame. Her brow furrowed with the concentration of holding it still as the red changed to orange then finally a fierce blue white-the hottest of all flame. It was only then that she reached out with both hands and forced it down onto the body. Forced was really the right word, Vicky thought as she watched Jay's hands tremble and sweat bead on her forehead with the effort of making the flame go where she wanted it to; there was so much else that it seemed to want to burn-from the trees and grass to jay and all of them. Finally it was down and the body began to burn-quickly the outer layers turning to ash before her eyes.

Jay slumped down to the grass before the fire, even in it's light she looked gray and exhausted, the only colour on her was her own blood that streaked her face when she wiped away the sweat. It was only then that Vicky thought about what the cost of magic was, what Henry had been trying to warn her about with his derision of dark magic-Jay hadn't used a single spell during the fight, even when she'd been hurt, she'd used it to save Vicky's life and now to set free the ghoul. She watched Jay stare at the pyre with the empty eyes of someone who's seen too much death and too much pain…she seemed exhausted but as if she was waiting for something too.

"Vic" Mike pulled her away "We need to get an ambulance for this girl" he gestured at the young blonde still lying unconscious. "And I've got to call this in…pretty soon this park is going to be full of police…" he paused, "you should take off. I can't explain you being here and"

"And it'll only get you into more trouble, not less, if I stay" Vicky finished for him. "Mike, I'm…I'm sorry that this all turned out so…unexplainable. I really wanted this case to be different for you-find the killer, catch the bad guy, be the hero…"

"Yeah, those were the good old days" he sighed, but he looked around discouraged and Vicky knew why; one body burning a characteristic black circle into the ground, another a short ways away in the trees, a unconscious girl who'd probably have god knows what kind of story to tell when she woke up-if she woke up…and his explanation for even being here was he followed his ex-partner's vampire with a tip from a witch about where they could find a ghoul, who happened to also be their serial killer.

She stood up and staggered dizzy.

"Maybe you should come in that ambulance too" Mike suggested watching her critically.

"Speak for yourself, you're the one who was knocked unconscious" Vicky replied.

Mike put a hand gingerly to his head, testing the rather large bump "Maybe we should both go" he said laughing slightly.

Henry walked away from where Vicky and Mike were talking, Vicky leaning on Mike's arm as he dialed his cell phone. They looked so good together, so real and true. Mike could be everything to Vicky that Henry couldn't, he could share the day with her.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Jay asked.

He remained silent. Not even bothering to turn and look at her or the pyre created with her magic and the fire fueled by it.

She raised her head slightly, and turned back to look at him although her eyes were closed as if the light of the fire hurt.

"Sometimes" she said quietly, "even when we find what we're searching for, it turns out that it's not really what we wanted and we wish that we'd never found it, that we'd died in the searching and never knew."

She wouldn't say that she was sorry for Henry's disillusion with who Christina really was, but in as much as she was able to regret what was necessary, what had to be, she did regret this.

"I don't know where Christina is. I told her to leave and that if she ever came back I would kill her. She threatened Vicky." A warning there.

"I know." This time Jay did meet his eyes "I also know that there are ways that you can find out exactly where she is."


	11. Chapter 11

Blood ties Blood Bond pt Blood ties Blood Bond pt. 11

Henry shook his head, "I can't do that. I won't. It goes against everything for me to directly interfere."

"Don't you think that you have some responsibility to stop this from happening again? From someone else's life being ripped away from them without their knowledge or consent?" Jay stood, angry now, her eyes burning a challenge at him through the night while her blood mixed with the smell of the smoke and the dew.

"If Christina is the one who's doing this then it's her responsibility-not mine. I have nothing to do with her life anymore, I haven't for a long time."

Jay looked at him, confusion and dawning understanding written on her face- then sorrow.

"You don't understand, do you?" she asked, softly.

Henry watched her with narrowed eyes and raised chin. She stood bleeding and bruised before him, but she looked sorry for him, for his pain-not her own.

"You have to tell me where she is Henry. I saved your life-twice. I saved your precious Vicky from being shish-kabob tonight. You owe me."

He moved, faster then she could blink he was looming over her. He didn't touch her, didn't try to force answers from her like he'd threatened earlier, but it was all the colder for his control.

"Even if I do" Henry said, lips inches from her face, "Even if I break the rules and find out what you need to know, what do you want with her?"

"I thought you said that her life didn't concern you anymore."

He remained silent, staring and waiting for her answer.

"I just….I want it to end" she said, meeting the anger and frustration in his eyes with a despair and exhaustion that he couldn't fight. That he couldn't argue with.

He turned away from her, away from the fire that burned away what was left of Christina's sin, and walked back towards where Vicky waited for him at the base of the statue. She looked so good, even covered in dirt and blood. She was alive, but she'd almost died for him-again-tonight. He couldn't allow this to go on, tonight had been too close, far too close and he still shook with the shock of seeing her lying vulnerable with the ghoul ready to kill her.

"Are you alright?" she asked, running her hands over the deep scratches that covered his chest and back. He took a deep breath and held it. He couldn't help the rush of feeling that he felt with each small touch of her hands.

"I'll live" He brushed back her hair, bending to look at the spreading bruise that lay atop her cheek and to wipe away a small trickle of blood from her lip with his thumb.

"Mike's calling an ambulance for the girl and reporting this in" Vicky gestured over her shoulder to where Mike was talking on his cell phone a little distance away. "I should probably go with them to the hospital, made sure they're going to be okay."

"Always thinking of others" Henry smiled brushing a kiss along the side of her mouth, savoring the small teasing taste of her that was allowed before he made himself walk away.

"Henry!" Vicky called after him.

He stopped- wanting her to call him back, knowing that she wouldn't and that he couldn't stay even if she did.

"I'll see you tomorrow night, right?"

"Any night you ask for me I'll be there" he replied, not turning to see the flush that spread up her face to rival the heat of the fire and the bruise.

As Henry reached the fire again, he paused watching Jay's hands slowly carving runes into the earth in a circle. Each one filled with water as she moved on to the next and when she finished the last one, a drop fell into it from above and it started to rain-the fire hissing and spluttering raged against the heavy rain as it died.

"There are few hours before dawn" he said "I can find what you want to know if you come with me."

She struggled to her feet, swaying with fatigue from the fight and the magic. Calling two of the elements-and the more trickster ones at that- would be enough of a feat for one night, but the protection circle she'd worked earlier for Vicky was something that Henry had only read about and never heard of being done successfully as it required too much intricate magic. Most who tried were consumed by it, one way or another.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

Henry reached out and steadied her, wiping the blood off her face and trying to ignore the way his fangs ached when he was this close to her blood that was still streaming down her side from the ghouls' slashes.

"My place" He said. "We've got to meet an old friend."


	12. Chapter 12

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 12

The rain was pouring down now. A solid sheeting of water that soaked her to the skin and made her clothes feel like they weighed about a pound for every inch of cloth. Jay knew that it was just the drain from the magic she'd expended tonight, but that didn't help when it was still so far to go to Henry's apartment and who knew what strength she'd need once she got there. She didn't trust this unknown 'friend' of his who was supposed to have all the information she needed, but then she didn't really trust Henry either- this just wasn't an opportunity that she could afford to pass up. If it was even remotely possible that she'd be able to find Christina after all these years and finally end it all then she had to take the risk, even if that meant following a vampire back to his house soaked and exhausted in the middle of the night.

Henry glanced back at Jay again. Her eyes were glazed with fatigue and she seemed to be blindly following him, her thoughts far away from the city streets and highrises of Toronto. He'd offered to carry her when she stumbled the first time, to whisk them back to his place and out of the rain but she'd refused and only stopped once for him to have a brief but rejuvenating drink from an obliging passerby who was waiting in a doorway for the rain to let up. By now, he was pretty much used to the trudging sloshing footsteps behind him.

He still didn't know what she wanted with Christina, and as much as he professed to be out of her life, to not care where she was or what she was doing...who she was with, he wasn't about to offer up the information blindly without knowing what would come of it. She's been the one to change him after all, he'd given up everything for love of her. That didn't just go away after a few centuries, or disagreements. But if what Jay said was true...and now that the ghoul had confirmed that Christina had at least been the one to change it also, well that could change everything.

He looked back as they crossed the street and came onto his block, his eyes taking in every detail of Jay's appearance even when he wished that he could just remain blind. She was wet, her clothes sticking tightly to her skin, even the jeans plastered to her legs, showing off her figure. His teeth ached as the scent of her drifted to him, an intoxicating mix of blood, rain and vanilla and his eyes drifted to the tears in her shirt revealing deep lacerations on the smooth skin of her side. He closed his eyes, exhaling in frustration at the particular combination of annoyance and desire.

Jay looked up when Henry placed his coat over her shoulders. She seemed to have missed a few blocks on their way from the park to his apartment cause they shouldn't have been this close already...too tired, she thought vaguely, not focused enough for this.

"Chivalry's been dead for about a century or so now" she commented.

Henry sighed, "I have a doorman, and he'll talk if I start bringing home soaking, bleeding women in the middle of the night." He gestured at the gashes in her shirt and skin and the blood that was rather obviously staining her clothing.

"The last time I showed up like this, it nearly got me staked" Henry commented absently, remembering how wonderfully creative Vicky could be and pondering exactly how far that creativity would stretch when...sufficiently motivated.

Jay pulled the coat together over her shoulders. "So you do this a lot then do you?" a hint of a smile tinged her words.

"I don't make a habit of it, no." Henry held open the door as she walked through.

"Good Evening Mr. Fitzroy"

"Good Evening" Henry nodded, ushering Jay as quickly as was seemly towards the elevators.

"Oh my! Just look at you both, you're soaked right through! Is there anything that I can do? Drycleaning run perhaps?" he asked, holding out his hands for their coats.

"No, no" Henry answered quickly, flashing a smile. "No need to trouble yourself!"

"It would be no trouble at all Mr. Fitzroy!"

"Really...Greg is it?" Jay leaned back across Henry, her wet hair tousled and curling in the heat from the foyer and a suggestive smile lighting her eyes. Her hand, slid across his chest, resting on his opposite shoulder and turning him back towards her and the elevators. "I'm sure we'll get warm upstairs with no problems."

"Yes...umm...alright...well...do let me know if...if I can... if there's anything…"

"Good night Greg" Henry said with finality as he pulled Jay under his arm and pushed the up button to call the elevator.

"Good night Mr. Fitzroy."

Henry waited impatiently for the elevator to arrive. He wondered why things that were supposed to be for people's convenience invariably ended up causing more frustration and delay. But all thoughts were driven out of his head, when Jay suddenly slid in close to him, drawing her arm up and draping it over his neck. Her blood this close overwhelmed him.

She leaned against him, the feel of her wet clothes and his coat doing nothing to disguise her body from him.

"He's watching us" she whispered in Henry's ear. For a moment it took him a minute to focus on the words, to make them make sense. But Henry could hear the doorman's pulse pick up and feel his eyes on his back.

"What do you propose?" He asked, looking down blatantly at her, not trying to hide his reaction at her closeness and the smell of her blood wafting around him.

"Well, why do you normally bring women back to your place?" a small pause and reproachful glare. "At least what do you want him to think is the reason you normally bring women back to your place?" she amended.

Henry didn't answer, his mouth cutting her off as his lips closed over hers. She tasted deliciously sweet with a hint of whatever was in her blood that he couldn't define...maybe it was what magic tasted like, but whatever it was it quickly swept past all his barriers, all his reasons for this pretense forgotten he pushed her into the elevator when the doors opened behind them, lifting her up to the rail and pressing her back roughly into the wall.

He forgot about not trusting her, he forgot about her motives and not knowing what her plans were for Christina, he forgot about the doorman watching, and everything but the feel of her against him. His tongue swept into her mouth as he pulled her closer and for once he didn't care when his fangs scraped her lips, the hint of blood only aroused him more. He could feel it soaking into his shirt from her wounds, dampening his skin and connecting them.

The door pinged closed and the elevator started to move, the feeling like the floor dropping out from under them.

Then Henry was suddenly against the other side of the elevator, small zigging lines of blue light radiating from his chest where Jay had pushed him back. She'd sank to the floor, holding the hand rail with one hand and gashes in her side with the other. Henry noticed that blood soaked her hand and more flowed then when they were walking in, he must have torn open the wound more at some point-even though it was only a few seconds. But she didn't look up at him reproachfully and accepted his arm to help her up when they reached his floor.

"There are towels through there" he indicated the door to his bedroom and the bathroom beyond.

She nodded, distractedly.

"I've got to make a call. It shouldn't be long, but we'll have enough time to discuss what you want with Christina first."

Henry walked back into the main room and slumped over his desk, eyes randomly moving over the images he'd worked out only earlier that week that now all seemed to stare back at him with her face and betrayed eyes. He sighed and turning away for now, picked up the phone and left a message for a friend to meet him as soon as possible tonight.

--

Jay looked around the bathroom with interest. It wasn't exactly what she'd expect in a vampire's apartment, but never having been in one before she didn't have a lot to go on. What she's seen of the living room had been an eclectic mix of old and new, everything from modern furniture to medieval art and swords on the walls. The bedroom was something else entirely-red silk sheets and candles she had only too easy a time imaging what went on here after their very interesting charade in the elevator.

The bathroom was sparkling clean, in a classic black and white with wonderfully warm and plushy towels beckoning from wall. Jay pulled one down and started the long and often trialsome task of drying her hair, while using a smaller towel as a compress against the blood still running down her side.

She thought over what exactly to say to Henry when the time came. There was a part of her that wanted to tell him the truth, that felt that she owed him that at least. But the rational part of her asked how he could ever understand. Even after everything that he'd seen and heard tonight he was still half in love with Christina. What could she ever say that would change that if tonight hadn't?

She sighed and looked at her reflection in the mirror, not liking what she saw. Her eyes had a kind of vulnerable-ness in them that she attributed to the long night, magic and cold from the rain...but even while she rationalized it, she knew that it would be there sometimes when there was no long night, or zombie magic fight, or rain. And the paleness and dripping hair didn't do anything to make her look stronger or more authoritative...

What was she going to say to Henry when he asked what she wanted with Christina?

--

Henry answered the door before the first knock, even before the guest had time to do more then think about raising his hand. He'd heard the approach down the hallway and even known when they'd entered the building.

"Henry, why do you call an old man out of his bed at such an hour?"

"I wouldn't dream of disturbing your beauty sleep if it wasn't urgent Augustus" Henry answered, a fond smile curving his lips as he reached and embraced his old friend.

"You're not having second thoughts about leaving Toronto, are you Henry?' Augustus pulled back slightly, looking at Henry closely. "Because the arrangements have all been made and we've had more then a few offers for the city. To change your mind now...well...it would be awkward."

"Second, third and fourth thoughts actually" Henry confessed "But I think that I've finally made up my mind to go through with it tonight...I realized what I'll be risking if I stay."

Augustus looked at Henry knowingly and wondered just how old someone had to be to be wise when it came to understanding women...for Henry it never seemed to be old enough. He understood Henry's reluctance to leave, after all Vicky Nelson was a very attractive women-if he were a little younger himself...but look who was talking!

Henry pulled him out of his reminiscence "That's not why I asked you here tonight Augustus. I need to know where Christina is."

"Henry" Augustus said, shaking his head and backing toward the door. "You know the rules, I can't tell you where any specific vampires are. If we started doing that then it would only be a matter of time until private feuds turned into all out stalking across the country and the whole thing is exposed."

"I know, and I wouldn't ask unless it was important."

"Henry, my first responsibility is to keep the existence of vampires from the rest of the mortal world. Any allegiance I owe to you is secondary to that. I'm sorry, but I can't give you that information."

Henry turned and sat down. "I fought a ghoul tonight Augustus. In Queen's park. It's been in the city for a few weeks now killing innocents, taking lives. Christina made it."

Augustus had stopped still as stone at Henry's first words, and slowly turned back to face him.

"What do you mean a ghoul?" he asked, watching Henry intently and breath held waiting.

"Ghoul-walking dead would be vampire but not quite, at least that's the general definition that I've been given." Henry leaned back. He'd never seen Augustus like this, usually his friend was easy going and calm, but now he looked pale and shocked as he leaned against the wall for support.

"You're sure that Christina was the one to turn it?...I know you two have had your history, and not all of it has been good, you couldn't be mistaken..?"

"I asked it. There's really no mistaking that." Henry leaned forwards, pain showing in his eyes for the first time since seeing Vicky on that hilltop. "Augustus, don't you think that I would believe anything else if I thought there was a way that it wasn't Christina? I can't deny what happened, what I saw and heard...no matter what I may want..."

"I know, I know...you can't blame an old man for trying right?...cause damn, Henry this is going to open up one can of worms that I very much don't want to be in the middle of. It's the biggest taboo and the most unforgivable offense-it threatens _everything_!" he sighed, looking away.

And I still can't tell you where Christina is. This just confirms that it would be a risk to let you know and go chasing off after her."

"If it helps I don't want the information for me. I gave my word that I would get it-if I could-for a girl, a witch actually, who traded it for information about the ghoul."

Augustus stood looking agape at Henry. He wasn't seriously asking for this information to give to an outsider, someone who he barely knew and would do god knew what with it? He gave serious thought to the possibility that his feelings for Vicky had driven Henry insane.

"Don't look at me like that Augustus, This girl saved my life and Vicky's. Anyways, I have every intention of knowing exactly what she wants with Christina before we tell her anything. And she's going to have to tell me if she wants to know where Christina is."

"So your word means so little to you then?" Jay asked, lounging against the doorframe to his bedroom. "I have saved your life-_**twice**_ actually-and your friends, I have given you the information you needed about the ghoul and then saved your ass and destroyed it in the end and now I have to justify a deal that you already agreed to? Interesting what kind of honor vampires have."

The words were meant to get a rise out of him, but Henry stayed sitting if by pure will alone and smiled. "You don't have to justify anything, but you're still not getting any information before you tell me what you want with Christina. It would be more then a little irresponsible of me to tell you where she is if you're planning some unpleasant surprise."

"You're more then welcome to warn her." Jay answered coldly, staring him down.

Augustus had been frozen, still as stone, for their exchange and slowly some things began to become painfully clear, so much so that he wondered if he were having a stroke and that's what the charged electric feeling he had was.

"Jaydyth?" He asked, stepping forward with caution, as if to move to fast would break the spell and she would vanish before his eyes, or he'd wake up and it would be a dream.

Henry had the pleasure of watching Jay be genuinely shocked for the first time since he'd met her. It was rather gratifying-after all she wasn't shocked by vampires, demons or ghouls- but curious, and he sat back intrigued.

"Jaydyth?" Augustus repeated, "is it really you?"

"I think you must be mistaken, it's late." She answered, backing away, but watching him warily and falling into a defensive stance.

"No, it has to be you..." He pulled up his sleeve, revealing a tattoo of intricate lines crossing and twisting into the shape of a sun with rays outstretched. "I witnessed your father give you the mark myself, when you were four..." he reached for her coat to pull it off.

She moved and had Augustus pushed back against the wall, arms pinned behind him faster the Henry could see or react.

"You're mistaken, old man" she hissed in his ear. "I suggest that you watch your tongue or I'll be forced to remove it."

She looked back at Henry, still holding Augustus hard against the wall. He was up and poised to jump, fangs displayed and ready to fight again for Augustus's life if necessary.

"We're not finished yet vampire. You owe me information and if you're not obliging to our deal then I may be forced to reconsider it and rectify my misjudgment in saving your friends' life."

She pushed Augustus towards him and was out the door by the time Henry broke his fall and got him settled on the couch.

"I wasn't mistaken" Augustus murmured. "She's looks too much like her mother and the magic and knowledge of vampires...no, I wasn't mistaken...it has to be her...but how?.."

"Augustus?" Henry asked kneeling in front of him and wondering if his friend had had his head knocked too hard against the wall. "What are you talking about? How do you know her? Who is she?"

Augustus looked up at Henry and met his eyes, finally seeming to focus and remember where he was.

"A Guardian" Augustus answered "Her family was ...or at least they were until they were all slaughtered in their home nearly twenty years ago."


	13. Chapter 13

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 13.

Mike held a cold neon blue gel pack to his head in what seemed to be a futile attempt to make his goose-egg of a bump turn into something more sugar cube sized. He'd dropped in and out of consciousness during the ride to the hospital, which even though it was probably a good indication that he had a concussion, meant that he'd looked bad enough at the scene that even the captain had thought it was a good idea for him to accompany the victim to the hospital. And the way Vicky kept bustling around him probably meant that he looked like death... considering the night they'd just had, he made a note to permanently remove that particular phrase from his vocabulary.

"Vic, would you sit down for a second! You're beginning to give me a headache" he patted the end of the hospital bed next to him, handing her an identical gel pack when she finally sat down.

"Mike, I'm fine! Just a little dizzy" she justified, shaking her head at the gel pack and wincing at the motion.

"Sure you are, you only fought a...what did Coreen call it?...Zombie fang monster? Tonight, have a bruise the size of a watermelon coming out on your cheek and can barely move without pain. Sounds the definition of fine."

"We've been worse" Vicky smiled. "Remember that time when we were called to Front Street?"

Mike smiled himself remembering. It had been a double homicide, one of those murder-suicide Romeo and Juliet things only they happened to show up right when the neighbors across the hall were getting in an argument with the cops that were securing the crime scene about parking on the street and had ended up in basically an all out brawl in the hallway...the wife had even come at him with a iron skillet!

"Yeah, and you dove her from behind!"

"And ended up knocking you down the stairs anyways."

"Ah, the good ol' days right?"

"Yeah."

They trailed off into silence, Vicky picking up the ice pack and positioning it over her face just for something to do, so they wouldn't be sitting side by side with nothing to say. There were thousands of things that she wanted to say, wanted to tell him. They'd almost died tonight and it made some things come crystal clear, but she couldn't find the words. There was an awkwardness between them that had never been there before. Vicky nearly sighed in relief when the doctor came in.

"So it looks like you've got a concussion Detective" he said reading over the chart. "I don't think that we'll have to admit you, but be sure to come back if the dizziness, swelling or headache get any worse and take it easy for the next few days" He looked up at Mike.

"Not like you will mind you, cops are almost as bad as doctors about following medical advice."

"How's the girl doing doc?" Mike asked.

The doctor looked over at Vicky, questioningly.

"Fine, a good knock on the head, but no concussion or hematoma. Probably have a headache and some tenderness around the bruised area...I can give you a prescription for some pain medication if you want?"

"That's okay" Vicky answered, looking away.

"The girl I came in with?" Mike continued. "The unconscious one? Jane Doe?"

"Oh. She's woken up which is a good sign, still in and out but she should be alright and up to answering questions in a few days. We're a little concerned about psychological affects though...when she woke up she was screaming about zombies and vampires and all this crazy nonsense. We were forced to sedate her even with the head trauma. Call back tomorrow afternoon after psych has had a chance to do their work up and they'll let you know more."

"Thanks" Mike said but the Doctor was already out the curtain and off to the next patient.

"Well, that's good news right?" Vicky asked, trying to force a cheery note into her voice that she didn't really feel.

"Which part exactly?" Mike asked. "The part about the zombies and vampires stalking her, or possibly that she's going to have psych asking questions that I don't know how to answer in a case that I have no idea what I can say to explain it without getting myself locked up in a looney bin?"

"How about the part where she's alive? And probably going to be okay?" Vicky pointed out.

Mike grumbled something unintelligibly, looking away. He didn't know what to do anymore. This was just too strange, too unfamiliar and no matter what Vicky said he did still have to come up with a reasonable explanation for a burned body, a dead body, a disappeared serial killer and four other dead victims. Now whatever this girl remembered would have to be explained away too, it would be easier if it was just a horrible dream or her imagination twisting what had really happened into fictional creatures because she couldn't deal with it. What she'd remembered was the truth but he'd have to convince her-somehow- that it wasn't. He pushed away the niggling thought that it might have been easier for him if she'd never woken up at all.

He couldn't keep going like this. Destroying evidence, falsifying reports, now wishing that victims had died so that he wouldn't have to explain the unexplainable. It was just all too much, and he couldn't keep doing it. Not even for Vicky.

"Vicky..." he started.

"I know, I shouldn't be here. It would just be another thing you'd have to explain when Crowley shows up. I just...I wanted to make sure that you were going to be okay. I really care about you Mike, you do know that don't you?" It was the closest that she could come to telling him what she wanted to, to making it alright between them again.

If anything his shoulders sank even further down, and Vicky reached out, bridging the gulf between them and resting her hand on his arm briefly.

"Call me when things cool down...we'll have dinner or something."

He nodded as she gathered her things and pushed past the curtain.

"I know you do Vic," he said quietly to the empty room. "I just don't know if it's enough anymore."


	14. Chapter 14

Blood ties Blood Bond pt

Blood ties Blood Bond pt. 14

Henry leaned back and regarded Augustus carefully. He looked shocked still, and his heartbeat was still slightly erratic, but that probably wasn't unusual for someone who had just encountered a ghost tonight.

"What do you mean she's a guardian?" Henry asked. It was nearly sunrise, less then a hour before dawn but still enough time to get some answers. "And what do you mean 'slaughtered'?"

"I knew her parents. Her father and I were friends ever since training... They were guardians...of a sort. Her mother was the witch-that's where the magic comes from-they met on the job and as things tend to happen..."

"They fell in love" Henry supplied.

"It wasn't unheard of but it was still unusual. Normally there's a strict division between guardians who manage all the arrangements and the magic users who...well...deal with any problems...risks that may arise, threats of exposure."

"They hunt vampires" Henry stated bluntly, looking to Augustus for confirmation. It made sense, no mortal alone would have the abilities to face a vampire and come out alive but a witch... Well, Henry himself could testify to how it was nearly impossible to fight magic with or without supernatural abilities.

"Henry." Augustus cautioned, sighing and slumping down into the chair. "This is all strictly taboo, you're not even supposed to know that they exist. Imagine if the vampires knew that there was another group out there who knew about their existence, their every move and location, not to protect their movements and keep their arrangements in order but to hunt them down if they step out of line? It would be..." he trailed off something horrible forming in his mind.

"A slaughter?" Henry suggested, mind already filling in the blanks.

Augustus nodded mutely.

"Exactly what happened Augustus?"

"It was nearly twenty years ago Henry, it couldn't be..."

"Augustus"-a warning in the tone.

"There was a fire. We investigated, of course, but there was basically nothing left...even the bodies were ash. It was decided that it must have been an accident, there could be no other explanation."

"And everyone was killed?" Henry pressed.

"So we _**assumed**_ Henry. No survivors were found, the fire fighters arrived while it was still burning. No one came forward and there was evidence of four people..." he swallowed "….having been in the house."

"But you're sure that Jay is who you think she is anyways?"

"I would be positive if I'd seen the mark, but yes, Henry don't you see?" Augustus jumped up and started pacing in his growing excitement. "It's got to be her. Everything you've told me makes sense now! The magic, the knowledge of vampires and ghouls, it couldn't be anyone else! Who else could know all that?"

"I don't know ..."Henry mused, "What does a tattoo have to do with it all?"

Augustus paused for the first time, hesitating as if considering what to say and Henry knew that he was pulling together a lie to explain the slip that he hadn't meant to make. Henry sighed in regret, he hated doing this to an old friend but he needed the answers.

"Augustus" Henry's voice dropped as he used his persuasive powers to force the truth from him.

"What are the marks?"

"They identify us. Which family we guard or our position and role in the society."

Henry remembered Augustus's sun-icon and thought that it was a rather odd image to be associated with him, considering what he was.

"And Jay's mark would be?" another push behind the words.

"A scorpion. Here, on her neck." Augustus reached up, outlining an S shape on the lower left side of his neck, just behind the ear. "It's put on when the child is still young enough not to remember if it doesn't take. There's some sort of magic in it because the mark will fade on those who are not meant for Guardian-ship. That way only those who it accepts are trained and initiated."

Henry sat still thinking over a few things in his mind before getting up and crossing the distance to where Augustus was still standing as if in a trance.

"Thank you, old friend. I understand how important is it that you protect your secrets so I won't ask you anything further."

Augustus blinked, realizing that Henry must have noticed the pause after his last question and decided not to push their friendship by asking him to reveal something that he couldn't.

Henry escorted him to the door, placing his discarded coat and hat in his arms.

"I'll look into this further," Henry's voice dropped again, low and almost sensuous it seeped into Augustus mind unquestioned as truth. "You don't need to concern yourself,"

Augustus nodded, satisfied. "Good night Henry."

"Good night."

Henry closed the blinds on the dawning sun, sighing in fatigue and falling back onto the bed. He could still smell Jay's blood on the towels in the bathroom, still see the spark in her eyes when she'd lied to the doorman...and the shock on her face when Augustus had had said the name. Was it really her? There were a lot of holes in Augustus story of what had happened, it was possible that she had escaped the fire, but what had caused it to begin with? Henry's mind kept whispering at him and he couldn't block out the sickening certainty of it all.

If Jay's mother had even half of her power then a fire would have been no problem to put out, even if it had occurred accidentally and they'd all been asleep at the time. Which means that she was either unconscious or dead when it started. And if her father was a guardian who worked with a witch, they must be a fighting team, which meant that unconscious was becoming less and less likely. Which means that accidental death was probably out too. But who would want to target a seemingly harmless normal family? He could only think of one possibility but he refused to believe it. There had to be another explanation-she wasn't Jaydyth...Augustus had been mistaken. But there was the magic, and the knowledge, and the fact that he had never seen her neck even once-it was always covered...

He would get to the truth of it all tomorrow. He couldn't leave until he could be sure that Vicky would be safe and Jay had-again-threatened her life if he didn't tell her where Christina was. He knew that the sooner he left the better, to draw it out now would only add to the pain-both for himself and Vicky...but he couldn't help being glad that there was an excuse for him to stay a little longer...to be able to see her again, touch her one more time...before he said goodbye.

Henry's eyes drifted closed, his last breath slipping out as the darkness of his dreamless day over took him. With his last thought he remembered how Vicky had looked tonight-not when she was bleeding and in danger-but when he'd first seen her, coming down the hill towards him. She'd rivaled even his most vivid memory of the sun.

--

Jay's hands shook as she dug for her keys in her pocket and they jingled loudly in the empty hallway, finding the right one to unlock the door to her apartment. She fumbled with them, nearly dropping them twice before finally managing to get the right key into the keyhole. She sighed, resting her head against the door trying to make her hands stop shaking long enough to complete the spell. It was ridiculous! Why should an old man's insane ramblings upset her so much?! It was late and dark and he was old. She might resemble someone who he once knew, but that didn't mean anything. He had been wrong...he had to be wrong. There was no other explanation... But why had that name disturbed her so much?


	15. Chapter 15

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 15

Vicky leaned back her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose at the headache that just refused to leave. The day had been reasonably slow, only a few calls and Coreen had taken one look at her this morning and booked everyone in for later in the week. She really didn't think she looked _that_ bad...after all, when she was a street cop before making detective she'd gotten pretty roughed up sometimes...that was what it was all about though! Getting down and dirty and bruised while you still could! Before you got too old and were put on a desk job...or too blind.

She glanced past her hands, making out the blurry dark spot on her desk that marked where the phone was, staring at it as if by will alone she could force it to ring. She'd left three messages for Mike before giving up. He'd call when he had time, and with all the creative explaining he'd have to be doing right now she didn't even know why she was trying so hard to get in touch with him. It would have been much wiser to wait until he'd cooled down a little more if yesterday night had been any indication.

But that was also why she wanted to talk to him so badly too. Things had been just so strained between them...she couldn't leave it like that. She didn't know what she wanted but this wasn't it.

Her eyes were caught by the marks on the inside of her wrists and she paused, tracing them absently with a fingertip-even without her glasses she knew the every line and dash by heart. Jay had been right what she'd said that first day, they marked her, changed her but were a part of her now too. How could she ask anyone to tie themselves to that? To be drawn into the crazy supernatural hell that her life had become lately? To even want to was grounds for insanity.

She knew that he'd be back, that Asteroth was just waiting for the right moment to strike out again and that whenever that might be she'd be right in the middle of it. It could be tomorrow or it could be hundreds of years from now long after she was dust, but it would happen. How could she make plans for a future, a life with anyone knowing that it could all be ripped away so easily? How could she voluntarily hurt him that much?

But if she didn't, she'd loose him. She'd loose them both.

She sighed, hating the depressing turn that her thoughts were taking and wishing that she were less sore so that she could work off some of her frustration and worry with a little boxing practice. But even looking at the bag hanging in the corner made her ache all over. That ghoul certainly knew how to pack a punch, she thought, remembering...felt like being hit with a bat...then wet grass under her and...she shivvered, deciding that maybe remembering wasn't a good idea just yet. Better to get some work done instead and keep her mind busy. There was a nice ordinary insurance scam that she'd been asked to look into, a little background research was just the thing to kill a few hours.

Vicky looked up when Coreen knocked on the doorframe.

"I was just wondering if you wanted anything?" Coreen asked. "I was going to make a dinner run, maybe that Indian place?"

"thanks, but I'm okay"

"You can't live on Chinese food alone, you know! And besides it's been hours, you've got to be hungry" Coreen argued. Sleeping in the office, repeated phone calls, late nights, now lack of appetite...Vicky's sure got it bad, Coreen thought. Now if only she could figure out who exactly...

The clock read 5:30 and realizing that Coreen was right, Vicky decided to call it a day. She didn't want to admit it to herself but she'd been trying to hold out until after sunset, incase Henry came by. She'd been half hoping that he would and half dreading if he did. There was still everything from last night to clarify...the way he'd looked at her, what she'd wanted...still might want...even she didn't know so how could she explain it to him when she saw him? She knew that hiding and avoiding it wouldn't resolve anything, and maybe running home and hiding under the covers was a little childish, but considering the night she'd had yesterday, a few allowances could be made.

"Thanks Coreen, but I think that I'll just head home and have an early night-for once!"

"Good idea! Go rest, do you want me to stick around for a little while and see if anyone else shows up?" Coreen's tone of voice made it extremely clear exactly who she might be waiting around for, but Vicky choose to play dumb and ignore her.

"No, we have office hours for a reason after all and someone can always leave a message on the voice mail."

"Okaaaay..if you're sure."

"I am."

"Good night then."

"Good night Coreen."


	16. Chapter 16

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 16

Henry had stopped by Vicky's office as soon as the sun sank below the horizon, its' light was still touching the last of the clouds with fiery colours when he burst from the confines of his building onto the streets. He still didn't know if Jay was who Augustus seemed so sure that she was, but there were enough questions in his mind to raise some doubts... added to that his experience with Jay, that made him want to be sure that Vicky was alright before he went searching for answers. He always seemed to be thinking that he'd figure everything out the next time he got his hands on Jay, and things always ended up going against his plans. It was intensely frustrating.

And now that she'd threatened Vicky-again...last time had been more of a warning-showing him that she could get close to those that he cared about without him being able to stop her. But this time...it was an out right threat. Henry swore that tonight he'd get his answers no matter what.

But when he didn't find Vicky at the office he began to worry. What if Jay had already made her move and had Vicky hostage somewhere until Henry gave her the information about Christina? What if she was hurt worse then he thought last night and was in the hospital? Thousands of possibilities swirled through his mind...from Vicky hurt, or dead at Jay's hands, to her laughing and out with Mike enjoying a night off...Henry didn't want to think about why that last possibility aroused such a primal feeling of jealousy, of possession that his nails, unconsciously lengthened.

He made his way quickly to Vicky's place, unsure of what he'd do if she wasn't there, but strangling Jay...or Mike was definitely high on the list.

He crept around to the back, waiting in the darkness to make sure that no one was around... the last thing he needed was someone calling the police thinking that he was burglar or something. He could hear a single heart beat from inside, towards where Vicky's bedroom was and sighed in relief. Only one meant that she was alone and alright, although why it would have bothered him more if a second heartbeat had been Mike's then if it had been jay's was not something to dwell on too closely.

He lifted the window pane open and slipped inside, pushing the curtains that fluttered in the breeze away. Vicky lay draped on her bed, her chest and throat rising with every breath and Henry felt the sight of her hit him hard. He hadn't taken the time to feed tonight and suddenly was almost overcome by his hunger for her...it went so far beyond blood that it shocked him with its intensity.

He stood there a moment longer, frozen with indecision. He should leave, should go and find Jay, feed, and get the answers that were so important a moment ago, but he couldn't seem to drag himself away and against his will took a step closer to the bed. He wanted to touch her, just once. Feel if her skin was as soft as it looked, as soft as it had been when she'd let him taste her, a small lick...teasing nip...before...

Another step. She was so close now he could feel the blood moving in his body, pulsing and pooling to the beat of her heart. As if they were already connected, already bound.

She stirred, rolling over and unconsciously closer to where he stood, statue still as if when she woke it would shatter him. But she didn't.

Henry leaned down and brushed the stray hair off of her face, casually, intimately. But then he fell back as if struck. Her face displayed the mortal wounds of last night's battle and he was suddenly back in that park, in the darkness, watching the ghoul raise her own weapon to impale her, lying helpless and bleeding on the ground before it...and all because of him. She would be in pain, the bruises, pulled muscles, scratches and scrapes, and it was all because of him. His wounds had healed with blood and a day's sleep. But Vicky was mortal...fragile and precious because of that very brevity.

He turned to go, reaching to open the window wider, the curtains again billowing around him. This was a mistake. He was leaving-for her sake he had to. For his own too. It was only more painful to draw it out like this, to tease himself with thoughts of her.

"Henry?" Vicky asked, sitting up and pulling the blankets up around her shoulders.

She wasn't wearing her glasses, it was night and dark inside but still somehow she knew that it was him waiting, poised by the window.

He couldn't move. Feet glued to the floor and unable to so much as breathe all because of the sound of her voice saying his name.

"What's wrong?...Henry?"

The sleepy vulnerability in her voice made him turn and walk back to her, kneeling beside the bed so that they were at eye level.

"Nothing" He smiled. "everything's fine, I just wanted to be sure that you were alright-after last night"

"Oh" Vicky said, unsure and nervous now that sleep was receding and she realized that not only was Henry here and the 'run and hide' approach had failed utterly, but that they were alone in her bedroom. She could only imagine what Coreen would say!-that is if she ever planed on telling Coreen-which she didn't. ever.

"And you asked for me" Henry reminded, devilishly.

"What?...no..." Vicky stammered suddenly caught between her minds imaginings of gossipy steamy talk and what the real conversation was.

"You asked if you'd see me tomorrow... tonight" Henry provided, he couldn't help it he liked the way her cheeks flushed and she got that defensive look in her eyes when he played with the idea of them together.

"I meant at the office" Vicky floundered to find her bearings, "for work."

"But this is really so much more interesting" Henry said, a slight growl to his voice as he reached up and braced his hands on either side of her legs and slid onto the bed beside her.

"Henry..." a hesitant note in her voice, but she wasn't pushing him away, she wasn't saying no.

"You scared me last night" He said it bluntly, not trying to deny it and the honesty and depth of emotion in his gaze had Vicky's sarcastic reply vanishing out of her head.

"You could have died, almost died." One hand slid closer, touching her leg and hip through the covers, the brief touch burning like hot fire, while the other pushed back her hair and settled at the nap of her neck. She'd never noticed how intimate a spot that was before, to just have his hand resting there, stroking slightly sent her pulse soaring. Which of course he would notice-Vicky felt a blush rising again, hoping that Henry thought her response was all from anger rather then the real reason.

"I'm fine Henry, a little bruised and banged up, but still in one piece."

He seemed to focus on her lips when she spoke, already only inches apart. He couldn't help himself-he was leaving, should leave now and she might push him away-like before- might chastise him and be angry...but it didn't matter. It didn't matter if the world ended so long as he had this moment before it did.

His lips connected them and Vicky wondered how she'd ever been able to convince herself that they couldn't be that perfect, that his hair couldn't really be as soft as the strands between her fingers were right now and that his skin couldn't possibly be that smooth hot velvet that her palms itched to touch again.

His tongue slipped between her lips and she forgot to think, utterly lost in just feeling as they stroked and toyed...teasing at lips and sensitive lengthened teeth that pressed into her lip.

He pulled her closer, needing to feel her against him, moving away from her mouth to nibble along her jaw and layer kisses behind her ears.

Vicky tilted her neck, giving him permission and a better angle in one simple motion-needing the feel of his lips and teeth on her neck almost as much as he needed the blood.

He looked up, met her eyes and saw the acceptance, and the same need that must be written in his own eyes reflected in hers and he stretched her back over the bed-alone and cold for a brief moment before he gathered her close and she felt his weight above her.

He didn't bite her right away, drew it out with kisses and licks and nips until she was too breathless to protest before his teeth sunk into her skin and he allowed himself the taste of her with the luxury of holding her in his arms.

Henry leaned back, savoring the last drops of her blood on his lips while he berated himself for not leaving when she'd woken up. He wouldn't trade this moment for anything and would remember it all his life, even if he lived to be a million, but it had just made it harder for him to do what came next. He couldn't draw it out any longer.

Vicky lay watching him, his hand still rested in her hair, the strands connecting them like cobwebs in moonlight- almost invisible until they shone and you noticed them. She'd given Henry blood before, when he'd needed it but this time had been very different. There had been no kissing, no...foreplay...the other times...well unless you counted that once-but it had been her lip that was bleeding so what exactly was she supposed to do?!

She was confused, since last night she'd had to admit at least to herself that her feelings for Henry weren't as simple and platonic as she often pretended they were. But she still didn't know what she wanted...Mike and her had been trying to work things out before all this started, but now sometimes that seemed impossible. And yet she still cared for him-still loved him and it hurt when he pulled away. It was all so complicated and part of her wanted more then anything to just run away with Henry, it was exciting and there was such an intense chemistry between them! There might literally have been sparks flying tonight when they touched. But there was Mike and her job and she couldn't just leave...besides chemistry had a way of fizzling out.

"Henry?" She tentatively broke the silence.

He sat up, moving away from her and untangling his fingers from her hair. It was such an insubstantial connection but she felt completely alone without it.

"I'm leaving this place Vicky" he didn't know how to soften the words, how to break the blow and so decided to do it quick and fast.

"I'll deal with Jay and whatever possible involvement Christina may have, but then I'm leaving. I can't stay. After yesterday night...it became clear that it's too risky to stay and there are more reasons for me to go. Arrangements have been made-I should be gone within the week."

He was gone before she could blink, before she could get a breath to protest, to cry or rage at him. The curtains swirling in the breeze from his passing and rumpled sheets all that showed he'd been here and it wasn't just a dream.

Vicky sat in her bedroom for a long time, watching the moonlight create shadows on the walls that moved and danced as time passed. It was no use waiting. He wasn't coming back. He was leaving Toronto, leaving her. And now, everywhere she looked in this room was just a reminder of what she would never have. Oh, Vicky knew it was futile, what sort of life could someone have with a vampire after all? No sleepy Sunday mornings together under the covers, matinee movies or tropical vacations. But she's allowed herself to dream, to imagine it. And her fantasies had come crashing down tonight with five words: _"I'm leaving this place Vicky"_

She couldn't stay here any longer, couldn't sit and wait for him remembering tonight over and over in her mind. Work would take her mind away from it all and ease the pain….for tonight at least. She stood, quickly pulling on clothes from the floor and grabbing her glasses, while hitting the autodial of one of the four cab companies she had programmed into her cell phone.


	17. Chapter 17

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 17

Coreen walked quickly down the street, pulling her coat close around her and glancing around the corner. The night was cold, with a hint of frost on the ground and the trees and her breath hovering in the air around her it seemed so much more like winter then it had in the heat of the sun today. Only one more block to the office, she reminded herself as she crossed the street.

She'd always felt comfortable in the night, had toyed with the seductive idea of vampires and things hidden from the rest of the world in the dark, but now that she knew what was out there, what could be waiting in that darkness, it made her just a little nervous.

She sighed in relief at the sight of the bright lighted doorway to Vicky's office just ahead. Get the tickets, and get outta here! She'd been so intent on teasing Vicky about Henry earlier that she'd left, completely forgetting them in her desk! She paused in the doorway, pulling off her gloves and reaching into her pocket for the keys.

"Hey!"

Coreen jumped, hands clutching the keys and the small spray can of mace they held.

"Spare change for someone down on their luck, pretty lady?"

Stooped and wearing a mismatch of coats in different stages of disintegration, the man was old enough to be her beloved grandfather! Breath flooding her lungs again, she clutched at her chest where her heart still hadn't caught up with her eyes. She found a few dollars in her pocket and managed a smile- that hopefully didn't look too strained before pushing open the door only to collapse back against it in relief!

She laughed softly at herself as she pushed herself up-imagine being scared of such a harmless old man!

Maybe she should take a cab to the concert though...just to be one the safe side! Her heart couldn't take many more scares, she was so worked up!

Vicky Nelson Investigations was up half a flight of stairs from the main entrance and off to the left side of the building, and Coreen paused again at the second door that opened up onto their wing.

The lights from the office were on.

Vicky must be back at it again. Their small Private Investigative firm wasn't bringing in the big bucks or anything but they were doing well enough that Vicky didn't need to be working night and day! But maybe there was another reason for her working nights lately too...Coreen could think of a few things to do on that big desk of Vicky's that wouldn't involve paperwork of any kind!

She'd just pop in quickly and quietly and get those tickets and then leave! They'd never even know that she was there!...well, not really, if Henry was around he could probably smell her from here or something!...but he could always pretend he didn't!

Trying to be extra sneaky quiet, Coreen held her keys tight against her leg so that they wouldn't jingle and tip toed down the hallway, peeking around the door before pushing it open and walking in.

And screamed in pure terror.

--

She'd waited while the girl went inside, holding her breath and nearly giggling with the suspense of it all before-finally- the scream split open the night air. Leaving an eerie silence in its wake. She held her hand over her mouth to hold in the laughter, but even once the impulse had passed, a grin still remained on her lips.

..Oh to have seen her face when the girl walked through the door...it would have been priceless! She wished she could have been there but some liberties are best when not taken too quickly.

She'd taken her time with this one, watched and waited and chosen very carefully.

She wanted him to know that this time was for keeps, she was done playing games, now they were into the main event.

--

Mike entered the police station later then usual. He'd actually overslept-2 alarms and more then 6 missed calls and you'd think that he'd wake up! It must be the damn concussion. The captain had said he could take a few days off, recuperate, but the sooner he finished off the paperwork for this last case, the sooner it was off his desk and out of his mind!

He was done with vampires and witches and ghouls-fang-monsters! ...and if that meant that Vicky went with them...well, he was finally beginning to see that she'd left him a long time ago already. No need for him to hang around trying to hold onto her shadow.

It took him the entire first floor and half way up the stairs before he realized how quiet it had gotten around him, how people were watching him with something... akin to apprehension. He looked around, trying to figure out what was going on but no one would meet his eyes and anyone he approached seemed to suddenly be very busy and have something urgent to do in the other direction.

He walked towards his desk, wondering if some stigma from this odd case had stuck to him and he was now office gossip about being Celluci the vampire hunter or something. Kate at least didn't seem to be bothered by it, but it would take a lot to create a divide between partners...he knew intimately exactly how far one partner would go for another.

"Kate, what the hell's going on around here? Did I miss the ostracize Mike memo?"

"Mike..."

"I know that the case was a little weird but that doesn't mean that I've gone off the deep end!"

Kate reached up and stopped his words with her finger over his lips.

"Mike, listen for a second. There was a call about half an hour ago. A homicide. Residential..." Kate looked away, took a deep breath and then met his eyes again. "It was from Vicky's office Mike. Her assistant found the body."

He shook his head, not willing to hear the words, as if to hear them would make them true.

"No...no..." He realized he'd been repeating the word and made himself stop.

"Mike, I'm sorry" Kate offered, her hand resting on his arm, comforting him.

He pulled away roughly, pushing past the people who now seemed to be trying to get in his way when just a moment ago they'd been trying to be anywhere else.

He barely remembered leaving the station, the drive was a blur and he couldn't have counted how many traffic violations he made, but suddenly he was in front of her office and it all seemed to have gone by far quicker then it should. He sat in the car, as if he could become stone and the world would stop-the police cars would sit forever outside the building, the yellow tape would never be removed and so long as he didn't leave the car, didn't walk across the street and into the building and up the stairs and through that door...everything would be okay.

But then he saw Coreen, sitting in one of the back seats of those police cars, saw her tears and the face of someone who is quickly sliding into shock and knew that he had to move, he had to get out and go to her. And no matter how hard, he had to face this. Had to make her tell him what had happened.

But god, it was hard. Just opening the door and stepping out it was like his heart was literally being ripped in two and he could barely breathe. Each step across the street to Coreen was a slow torture.

Finally he was in front of her.

"Coreen?" the name was forced past his lips.

She looked up, hadn't noticed his approach at all, but now flung herself into his arms. He put an arm around her, patting her back-but was too numb with his own grief to offer more comfort then his presence and his shoulder to lean on.

"Mike! It was so horrible! The blood...she was just sitting there...in the chair, I thought it was Vicky working late, but then...it...she...the head just fell _**off**_..."

Mike thought he was going to be sick picturing it, until his mind focused in on one detail and the world seem to still.

She _**thought**_ it was Vicky. That meant...

"Coreen," Mike said, trying to be patient but needing the answer more then air. "Where is Vicky? What happened?"

"I don't know. I came back to get concert tickets I'd forgotten... but the light was on and the door was open...I thought it was Vicky back again...but then...then..." She trailed off gasping for breath as the sight of what had happened in their cozy office overcame her.

...she'd pushed open the door, peaking around it to see if Vicky and Henry were in the front room or if she could sneak in unseen. But Vicky was sitting at her desk, the chair facing the window and Henry was no where in sight. She sighed, thinking that sometimes it would be nice to have his powers and be able to tell exactly who was around and where. "I thought you were taking the night off!" she called cheerily, walking in the door banging against the wall behind her. "You should have called me if you were coming in" Coreen said, walking around the desk. She got nearly even with the chair when the head fell off...and the rest of the body had just fallen apart, as if the strings that held the pieces together had been cut...

She came back to herself with Mike pushing her head between her legs while she gagged and forced big gulps of air into her lungs.

"So it wasn't Vicky?" Mike stressed, needing a clear answer.

"No" Coreen shook her head, sitting up, slowly and holding the side of the car for support as if even sitting she'd fall without it.

"It was supposed to be though."

"What do you mean?"

"It...she...was made to look like Vicky." Coreen shivered remembering. That brief look would be with her for a very long time. "Her hair was styled and blonde like Vicky's, there were glasses pushed on her nose...she was even wearing some of Vicky's clothes that she keeps at the office."

"But it wasn't her?" Mike kept repeating this point, needing to convince himself after the shock.

"No."

"You're absolutely sure?" he needed her to be sure before he could face going inside.

"Believe me, that's" –she nodded towards the office-" that's not something that I'm going to forget."

"Okay, I had to be sure."

Coreen nodded, leaning her head back down on her knees.

"Just sit here for a minute, okay? I'm going to go check things out inside and then we'll get you home."

"The detective said he had questions" Coreen mumbled, head still in her lap.

"He can find you tomorrow" Mike said, resting his hand briefly on her back before walking away and into the building. Damn procedure and protocol, he wasn't watching Coreen sit on the street all night for some newbie to finally get around to questioning the witness.

Cops filled the stairwell and hallway and he had to duck under police tap to get into Vicky's office. When he did it too was filled with people and he couldn't help remembering the quiet late dinners and long talks over chinese food and beer that they'd spent sitting on that couch that was covered with crime scene kits...or helping Vicky move in that desk that was being dusted for prints.

"What's the scoop?" he asked the detective overseeing the scene.

"Just going over everything now but there doesn't appear to be any forced entry, looks like the lock was picked. Single homicide, body was decapitated and then dismembered...the coroner is still picking up the pieces."

"Any clues as to who did this?"

"Nope, so far no fingerprints have been found on the door or the body, and we've interviewed the staff-no one was here and basically everyone has a rock solid alibi. I wouldn't think that a PI has that many enemies, but maybe some guy who had a grudge."

"Any ID on the Vic?"

"Again, no. We're still waiting for them to put humpty dumpty back together again."

Mike walked around the desk, dodging people.

The girl was literally in a dozen pieces but even despite that something odd struck him about it...but he couldn't put his finger on it. She did look like Vicky at first glance and he had to force himself to look closer. She was wearing the sweater he'd bought Vicky two christmas's ago. Dark green...he'd always loved that colour on her... A pair of Vicky's glasses sat on the head that was rolled half way out from behind the desk...he looked closer. The eyes were missing.

--

Vicky had a sinking feeling as the cab pulled around the corner and onto her block. They had passed two police cars on the opposite block alone and her fears were confirmed when they stopped in from of her office and she saw the street taped off and police everywhere. She pushed some bills at the driver and jumped out, searching the crowd and cursing her poor night vision that made it nearly impossible to distinguish faces at this distance. She ducked under the tape and made for the front door, only to almost collide with a young cop who stepped right into her path.

"Please step back behind the tape Mam, this is a crime scene, you can't enter."

Trying to remember that he was just doing his job and not to be too angry about the 'mam' thing-she wasn't **that** old! She kept her temper under control only barely.

"Look, this is my office-see the sign over there?" she actually couldn't see the sign right now, but she knew it was there and hopefully her hand pointed in the approximate direction!

"Vicky Nelson Investigations? That's me. I'm Vicky Nelson. And this is my office, so I'd appreciate knowing exactly what happened here tonight?"

"Homicide, please wait here the detective will want to speak to you with the other witness."

"Is Detective Celluci working this case?" she asked, before registering the other half of his sentence.

"Other witness?"

"The girl" he answered, pointing to a car on the other side of the door, where a girl wearing black was crumpled into the back seat.

Vicky pushed past him and made her way over to the car, ignoring his shout to stop and wait.

"Coreen?" Vicky asked tentatively as she got close enough. It really was too dark to see clearly, but when the girl sat up and out of the shadows of the car interior, she saw that it was Coreen.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

"Vicky!" Coreen was up and holding onto her with a death grip faster then Vicky could blink.

"Are you alright? What are you doing here? What happened?"

"I came back for these tickets I'd left in my desk...everything looked okay, the door was open and the lights were on...I thought you'd changed your mind and had come back to work tonight again..."

Vicky sighed, amazed that she could still breathe with the hold Coreen had on her. She had been coming back into the office to work actually. There was no way that she was going to be able to get anymore sleep tonight...after Henry...she felt her face heating with the memory and then blinked away the moisture in her eyes at the ending. Tears never solved anything, and right now she had more important things to worry about then Henry leaving.

She maneuvered Coreen back down into the back seat and knelt in front of her.

"I know this is hard, but what happened?"

"There's a girl inside, she's dead."

"In our office?"

Coreen nodded, not wanting to relive the memory again.

--

Mike came outside, needing to get some air. This cut too close to home and he still wasn't over the shock of thinking it had been Vicky. He took in a deep breath, feeling the chill in the air and realizing that it had become fall practically overnight and he hadn't even noticed.

Then he looked down and saw her. She was just kneeling there, in front of Coreen, looking tired and discouraged and still bruised but so lovely and wonderfully alive he didn't think he'd ever seen her more beautiful.

She stood up, hand still on Coreen's shoulder and looked around, surveying the police and crowd before seeing him and their eyes held.

He walked to her, never once looking away and despite the intensity in his gaze she couldn't either. When he finally reached her it wasn't slow and mystifying the way it had been with Henry, but fast and hard and shocking in its reality. Mike just pulled her into his arms and they fit; like two puzzle pieces clicking together and it was all the warmth and caring and love that had been missing between them, but, Vicky realized, had always been there. And always would be.

Mike touched her face, tracing the edge of her bruise until she looked up and found the comfort and security of his eyes.

"Take her home" he said, glancing to Coreen. "I'll be by later."

She nodded and pulled away from his warmth reluctantly. Something cold fell on her cheek and she looked up and for a moment it looked like the stars were falling around them. Another snow flake touched her and melted, trailing down her face like a tear. He walked them to a cab and held the door while they got in and Coreen scooted over to the other side. He wanted to leave with her now, take her home and hold her and convince himself that she was alive and okay. But he couldn't leave yet, there were still things to do, to find out, and so he closed the door of the taxi and watched as it took her away from him and into the dawning sun that was just showing through the first snow.


	18. Chapter 18

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 18

Henry watched as the blinds closed, blocking out the sunlight of another day. Another day that Vicky would spend alone and in danger because he hadn't found Jay and removed her as a threat.

He'd searched the city for her, for even a trace of her and had found nothing. She'd called in sick from work and when asked how he could get in touch with her no one had been able to give him any information. No phone number, no address, no contacts. The girl lived like a ghost. Or someone who was being hunted by one.

The only good that came of his endless searching was that it kept him busy. Kept him from thinking about the other night...from Vicky.

Dawn was the hardest. He had to seek refuge from the sun before it rose above the horizon or risk being burned but then it was long torturous moments alone in his apartment before he slipped into the dead sleep of the day. Moments that were filled with Vicky. The feel of her, smell of her...taste of her.

He'd asked himself a million times in those brief moments if he should stay, had convinced himself that it would be safe enough to stay thousands of times. But every night upon waking he'd remember, see the bruises on her body and relive with his intense senses every second of that night and know that he couldn't.

He had to find a way to let go, to move on. But fate seemed to be holding him here. He couldn't find Jay. Even with all of his powers, all of his abilities, it was like she had literally dropped off the face of the earth! He should have been able to back track her from the magic store, from the park, hell, from his own apartment after she left-but there was nothing. And until he found her, he couldn't leave.

He was stuck and it was slowly becoming hell. To see continue to see Vicky and know that he had to leave, to torture himself with thoughts of would be futures and know they could never be, to have to seek out the one thing that was allowing him to stay...his very desire was both pain and pleasure to him.

He lay back as the blinds cut out the last square of the light, praying that sleep would over take him soon, but knowing that even the few seconds before it did would be an eternity full of questioning etched upon his soul.

--

Mike snapped up straight when the captain called his name with a voice that hit like a whip. His spine was going to feel that for a few days. After spending all day and night at Vicky's office trying to get any and all information about what had happened last night and how a girl had ended up dead, and in pieces, it was really too early in the morning to have to face Dragon Crowley. And he hadn't even had any coffee yet. He set the half full mug back on the counter and sighed as we walked out of the break room.

"Celluci! My office. Now."

Mike hung his head and bravely followed her, trying not to smirk at the sympathetic looks he was receiving from the other officers and valiantly ignoring how quickly people seemed to scurry out of Crowley's way when she was in a mood like this!

The door closed behind them with a definitive click that was just shy of a slam, and Mike tried not to think about the sound of a cell door slamming shut with a clang of doom.

"I hear you were at Nelson's last night."

Good old Crowley, Mike thought, always straight to the point.

"I might have stopped by."

"You're not working the case. Leave it to them, I want you out of this."

"She's a friend, I wanted to make sure that she was alright. Last I checked caring wasn't a crime."

"There's been speculation around the office about you possibly being too close a friend with Nelson. That's all it is at the moment- speculation, but an official investigation might prove otherwise. I'd hate to have her ruin your career as well as her own."

"What is this?! The dating police? My relationships are none of this office's business!"

"They are if you're sharing classified information because of them."

Mike froze, his anger that was about to boil over into action suddenly turning to ice in his stomach. "What are you saying Captain?"

"That I've seen Vicky Nelson in this office one too many times, that I've heard that you were meeting with her or talking with her right before a big case gets closed far too often. You even keep your own partner out of the loop."

Mike shook his head, ready to deny it all, but Crowley cut him off.

"How many times have you mysteriously been in the right place at the right time and left Kate behind at the office? How does Vicky Nelson inexplicitly always end up at crime scenes before anyone else?"

Mike couldn't answer without acknowledging the truth of it all. He had given information about some of the cases to Vicky, had even sought out her help on this last case. He'd justified it, telling himself that they caught the killer and usually it was some odd supernatural thing that the regular law enforcement wouldn't have been equipped to deal with anyways. But those were just words, and the end didn't justify the means. He had shared classified material about ongoing cases with her-and he knew what that would mean if anyone ever found out about it.

"So far, there's been nothing substantial enough to warrant an investigation. But if you go nosing around this new homicide and it becomes apparent that Nelson knows something-anything- about it that she shouldn't know, I can't look the other way. I'd have to call for an investigation."

"She's solved practically every case she's ever opened. To keep her out of the loop on this would be like closing our eyes and hoping that we stumble upon the killer by blindly groping around! We'd be lucky to have her help on this."

"She's not a cop anymore, Celluci. No matter how good she was, no matter what help she may be, you can't ignore that."

It was like a slap in the face, a reminder that Vicky had left the force, had left him and coupled with the lack of sleep and shock from the night before it hit him hard.

"Stay away from the case, there can't be any indication of impropriety if you just keep your distance. No one could think that you told Nelson anything if you didn't know anything to begin with. Take some time off, rest. You've just closed this cult murder serial, it'd be normal to take a break after that."

"I don't generally make it a practice to run away from a problem, Captain," Mike said stiffly turning to go. Dismissed or not- he was done with this witch hunt!

"Celluci, right now it's a suggestion. You don't want me to have to make it an order."


	19. Chapter 19

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 19

Vicky closed the door and carefully crept out into the living room, avoiding the squeaky floor board in the hallway and navigating around her furniture that seemed inclined to trip her in the dim. Coreen had finally fallen asleep, after two glasses of scotch. She hadn't even protested when Vicky suggested it to help her sleep. Now, hopefully, it would help her stay asleep too.

Vicky knew what it was like after your first homicide. How the images wouldn't leave your mind and even when you closed your eyes they just replayed in all their bloody gory detail. The obsession to catch the killer if only to make their victims stop haunting her waking life...and the nightmares... As a cop, she'd developed a hard shell to protect herself from it, to be able to come home and turn it off. But seeing Coreen tonight, pale as a ghost and shivering from the shock, had made her remember. The only way that she'd managed to keep doing it was because she knew that if she didn't then the monsters that committed the crimes would still be out there.

Lately 'monsters' was a better description then she'd known back then.

She sat back, leaning into the couch, a glass of scotch of her own balanced on her knee. The only light was coming in from the kitchen and room was dark but Vicky couldn't make herself get up and turn on the lamp-even though it was only a few steps across the room. She was exhausted-mentally, physically...emotionally.

I'm just working too hard, she tried to convince herself. Late nights with Henry, early mornings with Mike...between the two of them she'd been getting almost no sleep lately. And her business was beginning to suffer for it too. But now that the case was closed, hopefully things could get back to normal...whatever normal was anymore.

Henry was leaving.

She could barely comprehend it still.

Coreen had wanted to sleep on the couch, but Vicky had insisted that she take the bedroom. It would be quieter, she'd said, more comfortable. But really, she couldn't face it. The sight of her bed, even with the sheets smoothed and the pillows fluffed invitingly, still left the imprint of Henry in her mind. Every breeze through the curtains, light glinting into a shadow. If she closed her eyes...

...she could still feel his touch...the softness of his hair brushing her cheek...his lips...

"Vicky?"

She jerked awake, not remembering falling asleep, suddenly disoriented, caught between the dream and reality.

"Henry?" she murmured, pushing back her hair and straightening her glasses.

Mike stood in the doorway, one hand still holding the door open.

"Mike" Vicky reached for consciousness, making an effort to shake off the last of sleep.

"How did you get in? I didn't hear a knock."

"Expecting someone?" he asked. When she looked blankly back at him, he signed and jingled keys in front of her nose.

"I thought I asked for those back, after the last time you walked in on me" she teased. Only after the words were out of her mouth did she remember that 'the last time' had been right when Henry was kissing her while she was being demon-bate. And by the look on his face, Mike remembered that too. Oh, damn. So far tonight really wasn't going well.

"Well, they come in handy sometimes" He replied, eyes avoiding her and surveying the room.

Mike looked about as good as she felt. Dark circles smudged his eyes and a fine golden shadow touched his jaw. He hasn't been home yet either, Vicky thought. But it was more then that...there was something raw and painful in his eyes, and the way he wouldn't look at her...

"Did you find out anything?" she asked, trying to get back onto safe ground.

"No" Mike said, closing the door-automatically locking it- and making his way over to the couch. "I'm officially off the case."

"Yeah, but you know how that works as well as I do, it doesn't mean that you can't ask around, talk to some people, find out what the scoop is. Considering our history, it'd be natural for you to be interested in why a dead body showed up in my office."

"It's not that simple anymore Vic." He sat down, leaning his head back and covered his eyes with one hand. The other laying between them on the couch, only emphasizing the distance between them.

Vicky held her breath, whatever was coming wasn't going to be good if Mike looked this defeated.

"Crowley 'suggested' that I take some time off, get my head on straight after this last case." His tone made it clear that whatever the captain had said, it was only marginally less then a command.

"Well, that's probably a good idea..." Vicky said, hesitantly. "You've been working really hard on it, everyone knows that."

"Everyone also seems to know that I've been leaking information to you" he said bitterly. "Because that's what Crowley's going to call Internal Affairs in to investigate if I start snooping around this case. Apparently it's become something of office gossip."

Vicky whistled under her breath, sinking back into the couch herself. She knew intimately how effectively office gossip would travel through the station-especially about something like this. And her history with Mike would only make it juicer.

"Mike, I'm sorry" she said, reaching out to try and bridge the gulf between them and laying her hand on his arm.

He was facing a review board in a matter of weeks and she'd thought that solving this last case would put a good stroke on his side, but then it had only turned out to be unusual and with so many unexplainable elements it made her head hurt. And worse again, she'd been involved. Only adding fuel to the fire of Crowley's accusations. Everything she seemed to touch was cursed.

"I did find out a few things before Crowley threw me out" he said, sitting forward and reaching for an envelope from his bag.

"These are copies of the crime scene photos. I picked them up just before I met with the captain... and since I'm officially 'on vacation' she can't exactly ask for them back if I'm not around."

Vicky smiled. Good old Mike! He'd never let the Captain push him too far, but she couldn't help being worried about the risks he was taking for her. It was his career on the line, after all. And if the captain looked hard enough she was sure to find the evidence she needed to kill his career as a cop.

She looked at the photos as he handed them to her, trying to be critical and ignore the fact that it was her office that was displayed. That it was the desk that Coreen sat at everyday, the coat-rack that she's found at an antiques store just after leaving the force, the couch where her and Mike had sat for dinners while she was working late.

"Any ID on the vic?" she asked automatically, then could have kicked herself. He'd just said how he was off the case and here she was pestering him with questions!

"Not when I left" he answered, so engrossed in studying the photos that he didn't seem to notice.

Vicky sighed in relief, making a mental note to be more careful and went back the photos.

"Is that my sweater?!" she blurted out, incredulously.

She flipped through more photos, the familiar setting of her office fading into the background as she focused on the dead girl. When she came to the last one, she looked up to meet Mikes eyes. He'd been sitting watching her, yet saying nothing since she'd noticed her sweater.

"This isn't...I mean...it's can't be supposed to look like...?" she trailed off unable to complete the thought let alone consider what it might mean.

"Vic" Mike said, he didn't reach out, didn't try to comfort her. It wouldn't do any good. She had to come to the conclusion on her own, him saying it wouldn't make her believe it.

"It's supposed to be me, isn't it?"

"I thought it was" Mike admitted bluntly.

Vicky looked at him again. He'd thought that she was dead then. He'd grieved for her, that was obvious from his appearance and explained the too recent pain still lingering in his eyes.

"And someone certainly went to a lot of trouble to make it look that way" he said, gesturing at the last photo that she'd put down on the coffee table. The one where the eyes had been gouged out and an extra pair of her glasses pushed onto the face.

"When you think about it, it's probably a good thing that Crowley basically mandated a vacation. Now, I don't have to come up with a reason to be out of the office and keep an eye on you."

"Mike" she started "I don't need a bodyguard, I'll be fine."

"Vicky, someone just killed this girl, took her to your office, dressed her in your clothes, cut out her eyes for christ sake, and then dismembered her! Then went to all the trouble to make it look it you, and you think that you're not in any danger?! I may be off this case, but there's no way that I'm leaving you alone until this sicko is caught."

"It's been a really long night Mike. Why don't you just get some sleep, and it won't seem this bad in the morning."

"It is morning Vicky" he turned her gently to see the dawn creeping through her curtains and the sky turning grey and blue, the night receding.

He hadn't let go of her shoulders, and when she went to turn back to face him, he pulled her back against his chest.

"Please Vicky" he murmured into her hair. "Quit being so stubborn, just this once." A pause. "I need to be here."

He sounded so lost, and broken that she could only nod, lying back in his arms to watch the sun rise light the sky.


	20. Chapter 20

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 20

Jay lay awake in the crawlspace beneath the floor, watching as the light that filtered down through the seams in the trap door slowly faded from bright yellow afternoon, to muted grey dusk and finally dark before making her way up and into the world.

She was still sore from her last encounter with the ghoul, and the open wound in her side still ached and bled, but couldn't put off the inevitable any longer. Sooner or later she was going to have to deal with Henry, and she doubted that it would be a nice pleasant conversation over a cup of tea. Given what she'd said and done, and how he felt about Vicky, she'd probably be lucky if it was anything less then an all out battle.

But hiding had never got her anywhere, and it wasn't as if she could just wait until she was at full strength again. She'd been able to divert him, keep him off her trail for this long, but it wouldn't last forever. Eventually his vampire senses to sniff out blood would win out and he would find her. Better that it was at a place and time of her choosing then he surprised her, or found his way back to her safe house.

She still needed his cooperation in order to find Christina though. And right now there was only one way that she could think of to get it. Vicky. Henry knew what Jay was capable of, now more then ever, and in her experience with him—limited as it may be—it was Vicky who was able to make him see reason long enough to ignore his more primal nature and talk. If Jay was going to get any answers before they killed each other, then it was going to be through Vicky. And she could either help willingly, or not. It didn't much matter to Jay whether she was awake and talking to Henry, or whether she was unconscious with a knife to her throat. Either way, she would help convince Henry to find an answer before time ran out.

--

It was beginning to drive him crazy. Henry had been over the same streets, same blocks for the last two nights and had come up with nothing. He'd started from the magic store, from the park, from his own apartment backtracking Jay to try and find whatever hole she'd hidden herself in, but every time he caught a scent of her, it would vanish as if blown away by some imaginary breeze. He knew that it was magic but that only made it more frustrating!

He knew that he could get around it too, make the witch's trail come clear but he hated to do it. And so far he had convinced himself that it was unnecessary. But as time continued to pass and Jay was still out there, he was becoming more desperate to find her and end this whole wild goose chase. Only part of the reason was because then he could finally deal with Jay and get some real answers; who she really was, what had happened 20 years ago, what she wanted with Christina...

But that was only part of it. The other reason that he wanted this over was so much more complicated, because he didn't want it to be over. As long as he couldn't find Jay, he couldn't leave Toronto. Leave Vicky.

He had been trying so hard not to think of her, hadn't even been by to see her since...but it was difficult to keep her out of his thoughts when he was retracing their steps searching for Jay. Hard not to remember Vicky lying on the grass before Jay appeared when he was at the park and looking for her footprints in the crumpled grass. Hard not to remember the fire in Vicky's eyes when he was leaving the magic store where Jay worked.

There was one more place that he could try and trace Jay's disappearance from...She had been to see Vicky with that ridiculous story about her 'brother-the-ghoul' and left her blood there. A personal calling card for Henry to find. It had probably even been the first place she'd gone to after leaving where ever she was staying. It was as good a place to start as any, and yet he hadn't been able to make himself go there. To walk into Vicky's office, like nothing had changed, like he wasn't leaving...like the other night had never happened...

But, he was getting increasingly frustrated and desperate in equal parts as the night slipped by. And when his only other option was something that he despised...

Henry sighed and turned away from the streets that would lead him back to the magic store...for the fourth time- and headed towards Vicky's office.

--

Coreen woke up to the noise of people arguing, muffled slightly by the blankets wounds about her head and nearly panicked at her strange surroundings before remembering that she was in Vicky's bed, and not her own. But that realization came on the heels of remembering last night...the office, lights on, door open...walking around her desk...

"Vicky!" she called, trying to take calm and deep breaths to quell the nausea that was building in her stomach.

The voices stopped and Coreen listened as the floorboards squeaked slightly and there was a brief knock on the door.

"Coreen? Are you alright?"

She sighed in relief. "Vicky...how long have I been asleep?" The last thing she remembered—other then the nightmares of ghosts without eyes yelling recriminations at her—was Vicky bringing her home...putting her to bed...and drinking scotch that burned her throat.

"All day" Vicky answered, closing the door and hesitating only slightly before coming to sit on the edge of the bed.

"It's just after 9:00 in the evening. We though you could probably use the sleep."

"We?" Coreen repeated meekly.

"Mike's here." Vicky explained. "In fact, I haven't been able to get him to leave ever since he got here. He's entrenched himself on the couch and basically refuses to move. I've been tripping over him all day!"

Coreen smiled "Must be hard to get any work done with him around as a distraction."

Vicky rolled her eyes, but was reassured. If Coreen could start insinuating sexy scenarios so soon after last night then she must be feeling better!

"What work?" Vicky snorted. "I'm not even allowed so much as fifty feet near the office and there's not too much I can do here...Doesn't anyone know that I have to make a living somehow?" that last was pitched to carry and Vicky turned almost scowling at the door.

"I heard voices when I woke up...sounded like more then just you and Mike."

Vicky turned back, searching Coreen's face to see if she was up to hearing about whatever was going on. It was silly to try and protect her, especially after last night, but Vicky didn't want her pressured into anything that she wasn't ready for. And at the same time, she knew that the sooner Coreen talked about what had happened the more fresh in her mind it would still be and therefore the more detailed and accurate. Vicky sighed, feeling torn but not having a way out of it.

"There are some police here too. Asking about the other night. They had some questions for me, but would like to talk to you, if you're feeling up to it."

Coreen unconsciously huddled down into the covers a little more, remembering how they'd left last night without talking to anyone. How Mike had just said that all that could be taken care of later. She knew enough to know that it wasn't standard procedure to send witnesses home without getting a statement. There was a good possibility that Mike would--or had—gotten in trouble for that.

"They just finished talking to me—do I have any enemies? Anyone who might want to hurt me? Send a message with this killing?" Vicky mimicked in derision. It was clear that whoever it was that had been sent over to talk to her, she didn't think that highly of.

"We told them to wait, that you were sleeping, but if you're awake now..." Vicky trailed off, trying to assess again whether or not Coreen was up to this.

"We can always tell them to come back tomorrow."

"No, no, I'd rather get it over with" Coreen said, pushing off the covers and sitting up. "Besides, the sooner I tell them what I know, the sooner they can find the person who did this, right?" She looked to Vicky for confirmation of this detail of police life.

"Exactly." Vicky nodded in reassurance.

"I have some clothes that you can borrow" Vicky said, getting up and pulling some things out of a drawer.

"It's not what you're used to..." she apologized, looking down at the blue jeans, and plain grey cotton shirt "But at least it's clean...and not slept in."

Coreen looked down at her own clothes, possibly not the height of fashion, the black leggings, under the short plether mini and the black on black lace shirt were comfortable and familiar...and if she had to relive last night for a bunch of police detectives that Vicky didn't even like...she'd rather do it in her own clothes.

"Thanks, but I think I'll just say in these until I get home and can change."

"Okay" Vicky said, "come on out whenever you're ready, I'm going to make some more coffee and then we'll get this over with."

Vicky was on her way out the door when Coreen called "Vicky?...why exactly is Mike refusing to leave?"

Vicky sighed, one of those 'doorknob' questions that she used to hate as a cop. You spent hours in an interrogation room with a suspect, giving them every opportunity to confess, to ask for a lawyer, to ask or say whatever they wanted, and just when you've given up, decided that you'll make a fresh start tomorrow-after a hot meal, a shower, a change of clothes, and maybe some sleep—they ask or say the most important thing right when your hand is on the door. She didn't know whether to answer Coreen or not, part of how they interpreted last night would depend on Coreen's statement and she didn't want to bias or influence it with her own—or Mike's—view of things. But she couldn't just pass him off as a piece of furniture!

"He thinks that whoever killed that girl last night left her in our office for a reason. As a message, or a warning or something. And that if that is the case then they might not stop there."

"So, he's here guarding us then?" Coreen asked, a slight smirk tugging at her lips.

"Something like that" Vicky answered, heading out the door.

"Your knight in shining armor" Coreen said, just loud enough for Vicky to hear her as she left.

Vicky closed the door on the two cops, and promptly leaned forwards and banged her head against the wood.

"They're idiots" she moaned quietly so that Coreen wouldn't hear her in the Kitchen.

"Come on," Mike said, still sitting back on her couch, acting for all the world like he didn't have any place that he'd rather be.

"It's not their fault."

"It's not their fault they're idiots?" she retorted.

"It's not their fault that they're rookies, who were only sent here to question the great and formidable powerfrau Vicky Nelson because you know all the other homicide detectives and Crowley doesn't trust them any more then she trusts me, not to share information with you."

"She could have at least sent someone who knows what they're doing and who doesn't ask ridiculous questions...'did you see the killer at any time? They probably would have had blood on them'" Vicky mocked. "As if Coreen wouldn't remember seeing someone drenched in blood just passing by, or wouldn't think it was important. It was embarrassing Mike!"

Mike just leaned back into the couch some more, smiling. When Vicky was in one of these moods it was best just not to argue.

"What?" she glared at him. "And I suppose you didn't think so too?"

Sometime you just couldn't win though.

"Okay" He relented. "They could have been a little less patronizing. But we're not new to the game Vic, we're the old jaded folks."

"So, their idiots because their rookies, is that it?"

"Yup, that's it."

"Oh, well why didn't you just say so!"

"I could have sworn that I did..."

Vicky came and slumped beside him on the couch, grabbing a pillow and punching it.

"It was probably their first time ever interviewing a witness" Mike said, trying to placate her into letting the pillow go with a warning. It didn't look like it was up to a full fight.

"Which begs the question, why Crowley sent newbie idiots who don't know what they're doing to question me in the first place! Doesn't she care about catching this killer? Someone was murdered, and I was basically either framed, or threatened! You'd think that she'd have more important things to focus on then whether or not I may know too much!"

Mike sighed, giving up all hope for the pillow as Vicky pulled and pushed it into submission. He was pretty sure that even **it **would give up anything and everything it knew at this point.

"Is there anything that anyone could do that would be right in your opinion, tonight?" He asked, more to himself then to Vicky but not quite quiet enough that she didn't hear him. Damn.

"Yes, actually there is" she smiled at him sweetly. Far too sweetly. He'd gotten himself into trouble being taken in by that smile before...there was one very memorable time that came to mind...it involved her handcuffs...

"You could be so kind as to escort me to my office to pick up some work, and then to Coreen's to get some of her things."

Mike rolled his eyes, taking in a breath to explain the situation, that she should already know—again-- to her. How because of the ongoing homicide investigation and the police tape that said 'Do Not Cross' in big black letters that would be covering her office from floor to ceiling, she wouldn't even be allowed into her office, let alone be able to take anything out.

"I need to work Mike, and all my files and notes and information are there. And Coreen needs clothes."

"Haven't you heard of the 21st Century Vic?" he asked rhetorically. "We've got these things called computers that you can find pretty much anything you might need on them, and keep notes on so that when you're away from the office, you can still have everything you need."

But he knew that it was a waste of time. Vicky was old fashioned about these things sometimes, she liked to keep notebooks and journals with notes of the progress of cases, log her time spent on each case in pencil and paper. She was just as good at the technological stuff as the next person—people even often came to her for help when she was on the force—but for her own work, it was mostly all paper piling and overflowing her desk and drawers and filing cabinets.

"You can either come with me, or I can hand cuff you to this couch that you seem so inexplicably attracted to and go alone."

"I don't know, it was rather interesting last time we tried that...a little chilly perhaps, but I trust you won't loose the keys this time."

He had the pleasure of watching her blush.

"Mike, come on" she said, avoiding his eyes and trying to look cool and collected. "I really do need to work. My landlord's called twice this week and what with all the time I've spent on this last case of yours for the past two weeks..."

If all else failed, there was always blackmail and guilt to fall back on.

"Alright" Mike gave in. "But you're the one explaining it to the guys at the scene and you're the one who's going to feel like crap if I loose my job because of this."

"I'm sure they'll never even notice that anything is amiss!" she jumped up, kissing him briefly on the cheek before heading for the kitchen.

"I'll just help Coreen with the last of those coffee cup dishes and we'll be on our way!"


	21. Chapter 21

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 21

Henry walked aimlessly in the general direction of Vicky's office, caught up in thoughts about two very different, yet equally captivating women—only for completely opposite reasons. Just the thought of Vicky made his teeth ache and it was all he could do not to turn around and head straight for her house to finish what they'd started the other night. Jay, on the other hand, made his nails and teeth lengthen for an entirely different reason that had more to do with inflicting pain and less with pleasure.

He hadn't been able to face Vicky since he'd told her that he was leaving. Despite Jay's threats, he hadn't been able to bring himself to be close to her again. It was just too hard, to be near her, smell her and hear her heart beating and know that he could make it race ever faster, that after last night she might let him. But that he would have to walk away. Better to cut it off now, make a clean break then to draw it out by continuing to work together. She hadn't called him for a case anyways.

He looked up as he rounded the corner, turning onto Vicky's block and dragging his mind back to the present and the task at hand. Find jay, finally get some answers, remove her as a threat— by any means necessary-- and move on.

There was a police car parked across the street and Henry nearly groaned out loud in frustration. Great, not only did he have to face Vicky tonight, but Detective Celluci was here too. That was just what he needed, a physical reminder of what he could never be to Vicky. Of whom she would inevitably turn to when he was gone.

Using magic to find the witch was beginning to look better and better. But after nearly 500 years he'd learned how to pick his battles, and facing Mike Celluci was still better then using dark magic and having to face the consequences of what it might draw to this city. And the blood here was still his best bet for actually tracking down Jay's hiding place. Didn't mean that he had to enjoy seeing Vicky and Mike together though.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Henry stopped on the doorstep, assuming an air of aristocratic annoyance as he turned around and looked down at the policeman standing on the sidewalk in front him.

"Yes?" he drawled the word, making the single syllable sound more like two as if to say, 'you'd better have a good reason for delaying me'.

"What's your business here tonight?"

"It's private" Henry answered, his voice clipped the word as he smoothly transitioned from bored but accommodating to affronted and dangerous. Sometimes having been schooled as a prince on how to command people had its positive side; the man even stepped back and Henry turned to go inside.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you can't go in. This is a closed crime scene and I really do need to know your business here. It's standard procedure" the cop offered as if to placate him into an answer.

"Crime scene?" Henry whispered. He became unnaturally still, power gathering in every muscle and tendon. He didn't even try to hide it from the officer standing behind him as Henry turned around and the cop reached automatically for his gun, his body's primal response to fear and danger even while his mind was trying to rationalize the situation. Surely it wasn't actually darker then it had been a moment ago...and he was still just a man in a dark coat standing on the steps, not some creature assuming the guise of mortality.

"What happened?" Henry's voice sank low, reaching and pushing at the officer's mind for compliance.

"There was a homicide" the cop answered. "Last night. Nelson Investigations. Girl was basically cut up into a dozen pieces..." he went on, mindlessly relaying what the report said, all the grizzly details in photographic clarity, but Henry didn't hear him. His mind was replaying a conversation from two nights ago, in his apartment...

"_So your word means so little to you then?" Jay asked, lounging against the doorframe to his bedroom. "I have saved your life-__**twice**__ actually-and your friends, I have given you the information you needed about the ghoul and then saved your ass and destroyed it in the end and now I have to justify a deal that you already agreed to? Interesting what kind of honor vampires have."_

_..._

_She looked back at Henry, still holding Augustus hard against the wall. He was up and poised to jump, fangs displayed and ready to fight again for Augustus's life if necessary._

"_We're not finished yet vampire. You owe me information and if you're not obliging to our deal then I may be forced to reconsider and rectify my misjudgment in saving your friends life."_

"...We still don't have an ID on the victim and no idea how they got in, or who committed the murder. Captain's got this case locked up tighter then anything else in the whole department, nothing's supposed to get out- to Celluci or anyone not officially assigned to the case. Say's it'll be our badge if we so much as breathe about in our sleep!" the man finished, waiting passively for Henry's next instructions.

Henry pulled the officer up the steps with one hand, dropping the enthrallment and holding him close to let him see the danger he was in—fangs and all. If anything had happened to Vicky he would tear this city apart to find whoever had hurt her.

"What of Victoria Nelson?" He hissed.

The man's mouth opened and flapped but no sound came out, he was too focused on Henry's teeth looming above him to answer. The whites showed around his irises as his eyes widened, mind refusing to believe the myth that stood before him, real as life and just as dangerous.

"Vicky Nelson" Henry shook him, pushing all his power into the words, uncaring what damage he might do. "What happened to her?"

"Celluci took her home, her and the other girl. They weren't even here, although the girl, the assistant, found the body. Someone was going by tonight to get a statement from them."

Henry lowered the officer back to the street, still retaining his hold on the man's jacket. With Vicky's safety—for the moment at least, assured, it only made it even more imperative that he get into her office and find a way to track down Jay. If she was escalating from drops of blood to bodies, then Vicky was in even more danger then she knew. Even Henry didn't know exactly what Jay was capable of, but she was more powerful then any other witch he'd ever encountered and could do spells that he'd only ever hear talked about metaphorically as they were so dangerous. He wouldn't put anything past her, not even murder, and Vicky, or Mike had no way of knowing what to expect if she decided to come for them.

He leaned down, murmuring in the officer's ear and steering him around to face the street.

"You fell asleep in your car. Had a nightmare about vampires—understandable considering the stress you've been under at work lately. Someone will come to relieve you in a few hours and wake you up, but you didn't see anyone come in or out tonight, you remember nothing after falling asleep."

The man would probably get in trouble, but Henry liked to work undisturbed. He watched as the cop stumbled, dazed across the street and got into his car, falling unnaturally quickly and completely asleep, before entering Vicky's building and turning down the hallway to her office.

There was police tape everywhere, a continuing reminder of the crime that had occurred. Henry ducked under what he hoped was the last it and entered Vicky's office.

The smell of death nearly overwhelmed him, but for that there was almost no blood on the floor, chair or desk where the body had so clearly been. He inhaled deeply, drawing the scents into his lungs, testing them to find what he wanted. Jay's blood was still here, mixed in amongst the rest –none of which was Vicky's.

Something tight uncoiled in his chest at the realization and he began to relax a little. She really was alright. It wasn't her blood, so it couldn't have been her body. He wanted more then anything to rush to her apartment, see for himself, with his own eyes that she really was okay. It pulled him like a magnet, the police officers description ringing in his ears

"_cut up into a dozen pieces"_

But while it would make him feel better to see her, hold her, it wouldn't stop the threat to her, wouldn't keep her out of danger. The only way to do that was to stay here and search out jay's blood, he could use it to try and track her—again—or to perform the ritual that would show him exactly where she was.

He moved away from the front room and the evidence of murder that it contained and into Vicky's office at the back. He knelt, blocking out the smells of fresh blood from the other room, the sounds outside, trying to pin point where the single drop of Jay's blood had been on the floor. Blood was the only thing that was real, gourmet foods, fine wines, it all paled in comparison. It was the essence of who someone was, behind the facade, the ever changing makeup and clothing styles, blood was tied to their soul, bound up with their very selves. It was an undeniable bond.

...There. His hand went irresistibly to a small, almost indiscernible spot on the floor, a smudge that left a rust tinged blush to his fingertip.

He smiled, a wicked twist to it at what he was going to do whenever he finally caught up with her. If she thought that she could just walk into his town, threaten his carefully crafted life and friends and get away unscathed, he was going to teach her what it meant to bate a vampire. And it had even more dire consequences then the magic she relied on so much.

--

She watched from the shadows as he played with that constable. Showing him a glimpse of what death was before hiding it away again. Vampires did always like to play with their food just a little...but...he was walking away. She frowned, the motion pulling down her lips as she watched the police officer walk back to his car and collapse. This wasn't the powerful Henry Fitzroy, the confident prince. This was Vicky's puppy, who followed her beck and call- 'don't hunt, don't feed, don't kill.' But she could use that connection, that caring, that fear. It would be almost fun, a game. At least until she had to kill Vicky.


	22. Chapter 22

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 22

"And here I was beginning to wonder what had happened to all the police that were supposed to be keeping this scene secure. What'd ya do Fitzroy? eat them? Or just brainwash them into thinking that they're chickens or ducks for the night?"

Henry spun around, teeth barred and ready for a fight, only to see Mike leaning casually against the doorframe, with Vicky just behind him.

"Nothing nearly so dramatic or unusual; they're asleep in the car" Henry answered, quickly standing up from the defensive crouch and straightening his coat. "I hate to take credit for what I'm sure is a regular occurrence, even without my help". He turned to Vicky. "What happened here?"

"So nice of you to take an interest!" Mike exclaimed, pushing himself away from the door and walking into the room. He wasn't having a good night, first he couldn't convince Vicky out of coming here and now he was confronted with Henry Fitzroy, local vampire and all around blood sucker, in the process. Sometimes life and luck just weren't on his side.

"Vicky was almost killed, that's all. I'm sure the lives of mere mortals start to seem insignificant in the face of centuries...how many centuries is now anyways Henry? Four? Five? What's a single life mean after all that time?"

Vicky had stayed silent throughout the whole exchange but there was only so much testosterone that she could take. She was having trouble being in the same room as Henry after the last time, and the emotional rollercoaster of last few days left her feeling like she didn't know whether solid ground was going to shift out from under her feet again. But that didn't mean that she could just let him and Mike duke it out, in the middle of what was already a crime scene no less. They had bigger problems to worry about.

"Mike" she said, a warning note in her voice.

"What!?" He spun back towards her, suddenly all the fear and anger of the last few days coming to the surface. "A body was dumped here, make up to look exactly like you either as a threat or to try and frame you for the murder and Captain Midnight here just expects us to stand around filling him in on the details that we've had to lie, cheat and steal just to know, while he's been off playing sleeping beauty until the sun sets?! It doesn't put me in a sharing mood."

"I least I've been doing something productive with the time I do have" Henry answered, smiling at Mike. If Mike wanted to start throwing daggers then Henry had a few of his own to aim also.

"And what do you mean by that?" Mike crossed the room to stand right in front of Henry, not caring in his anger that perhaps pushing the boundaries of polite social distance might not be the best thing to do with a vampire.

"I mean," Henry sighed, ignoring Mike and sitting back against the desk, "that while you've been out gathering _information_" –a slight sneer in the word- "I've actually been tracking our killer. The one who's threatening Vicky, not framing her by the way."

"How could you possibly know that for sure?" Mike asked, the police detective in him overriding the emotions.

"Because I know who it is" Henry paused dramatically and toyed with the idea of making Celluci ask him outright, drawing out the silence for a little, before deciding that even annoying pain the royal ass ex-partners, ex-lovers, ex-everythings' deserved just a little dignity and respect. Just a little.

"It's Jay."

"Wait, just wait a sec" Mike shook his head confused. "The girl? The witch? Weren't you all working together?"

"I thought I felt my ears burning" a voice said from behind them.

Henry was surprised for the second time that evening in very short duration, but at least he wasn't the only one. Mike had also turned around, gun at the ready and pointed straight at the figure in the doorway. At least Henry had the presence of mind to pull Vicky behind him before turning, fangs and claws exposed to greet their unexpected and uninvited but not all together unsought guest.

"I suppose it's to be expected when someone's talking about you behind your back, but you really should know by now to be a little more polite then that" Jay said, striding into the room totally oblivious to Mike's gun pointed at her head, and Henry's imposing demeanor.

"You're one to talk about manners" Mike said, turning to keep her in his sights while still trying to get closer to Vicky. "Personally, I think that murder and leaving dead dismembered bodies around as calling cards is pushing on rude."

"Oh I don't know about going that far" Jay smirked, still only looking at Henry and ignoring Mike completely. He wasn't the real threat in the room, nor could he be of any help. "I think it all depends on the context."

"The context," Henry snarled "is that when you want something from me, and you want to leave me a warning, a threat, a message, then you deal with **me**! Not them."

"Well, where's the fun in that?" Jay asked, innocently. "Besides, you're the one who brought them into this little game."

"Game? You think this is a game?" Vicky said, incredulous, stepping out from behind Henry and trying to get around Mike. "Someone is dead! Cut up into tiny pieces and mutilated, and you think it's fun?! That girls' family won't be able to have an open casket at her funeral, and to identify the body!? Well, they'll have to sew her back together again first!"

Mike put out an arm to stop Vicky from getting too close, but she ignored him. And Jay ignored her, speaking to Henry as if Vicky hadn't said a thing.

"But I did deal with you vampire. I made a deal with the devil and low and behold he went back on it once he'd gotten what he wanted and screwed me. What would you suggest I do?"

"Not kill people for a start!" Vicky nearly yelled. Mike grabbed ahold of her arm with one hand, not wanting to drop his gun and be defenseless—he didn't trust Henry to have his back, but if Vicky didn't stay put then he'd have to restrain her and trust that Henry wouldn't let Vicky-and consequently-him be fried by the witch. Even if he did agree with Jay on some points—especially Fitzroy being a murdering blood sucking vampire.

"You're the one who put your friends lives in danger, who introduced them to this world and basically gave them the guided tour to all things strange and supernatural, and I'm supposed to ignore them now? Like I didn't save their lives? Like I didn't save yours?" jay paused, looking away from Henry for the first time, eyes touching on the bloodstains giving the wood floor a cherry appearance.

"I just want the information Henry, then I'll leave, be out of your lives forever and never come back. How many people can promise a vampire that they'll never see them again?" she smiled, it barely touched her eyes but adding a hint of sadness in her expression too.

"That's not good enough! You killed her-- you can't just walk away like nothing happened!" Mike actually had to step in front of Vicky this time, physically blocking her path so that she bumped into him.

"And what about Christina?" Henry asked, not for a second believing her promise, but wanting to find out as much as he could before things got ugly anyways. "What do you want with her? Why do you want to find her so much?" Call him a pessimist but he really didn't see any way that this would end in a Happily Ever After.

"Christina isn't your problem anymore. Hasn't been for a very long time, you're more then welcome to tell her what you've told me, hell! Tell her all about me for all I care, it won't mean a thing. But I'm not explaining myself to you."

"You have to" Henry answered, "or you'll get an equal nothing from me."

"Choice is a funny thing Henry, if you don't tell me it will be because you choose not to. And I'm not at all convinced that you won't choose to see it my way…with the proper motivation that is." Jay said.

A slight shift in her stance was the only warning he got. Henry lunged to the left trying to block Vicky from jay's attack only to find that it wasn't directed at Vicky at all. This fact became utterly clear when a dagger impaled itself through his shoulder, trailed by enough magical force to punch him backwards against the far wall. It centered in on the knife, pulling it and Henry with it, back and nearly embedding the point in the wall.

He heard Mike fire, once and then again as he stood, pulling the blade from his shoulder and watching the wound healed closed almost without a seam. He swept around, ready to fight-even with a few bullets in her the witch was still powerful enough to be a problem—only to be knocked back down again as Mike stumbled against him, pushed backwards by much the same magical shock wave as Henry was, only minus the knife.

"Slowly, vampire" Jay warned, "I want to see each and every move in nice slow mortal motion."

Henry regained his feet for the third time, and tried to ignore it as Mike used him as a prop to pull himself upright also. Magic packed one hell of a punch for a mortal, for a vampire too, but at least he'd known what to expect. He gave Mike a hand to steady him and turned back around.

Jay stood in the middle of the room, holding Vicky in front of her, another knife—the twin to the one Henry now held-- at Vicky's throat.

Henry carefully raised his hands slowly away from his sides, making his motions clear and almost painfully over-exaggerated, as directed. He couldn't quite help the smile that grazed his lips as he took in the spreading bruise on jay's face and the blood trickling from her lip. The boxing bag in Vicky's office wasn't purely decoration and he was proud that she'd gotten in a hit or two. Probably wouldn't slow the witch down much, but it was good showing for a mortal.

Mike shook his head to clear it and tried to make the room come back into focus. It was something like being hit with one of those sonic bombs. He looked up and met Vicky's eyes, taking in the knife at her throat and automatically reached for his gun, looking around when he found it missing from his side holster. It lay about half way between him and Jay.

"Just calm down, why don't you put the knife away and we'll talk about this?" Mike said, slowly putting his arms up and moving carefully out from behind the desk in the direction of his gun. "I'm sure we can come up with a reasonable solution if we all just settle down and don't do anything rash."

"ummm...Mike?" Vicky said, biting her lip and rolling her eyes down towards the floor, "somehow I don't think that hostage negotiation 101 is going to work here."

Mike followed her gaze and stopped still as he watched his gun literally...melt...into an unidentifiable puddle of black.

"Nice try though" Henry said sarcastically from behind Mike.

"You wanna do better?" Mike said, not turning around.

"Guys!" Vicky shouted, or would have shouted if a knife wasn't pushing into her throat. As it was it came out rather a strong whisper. "Think you could put aside your differences for just a sec, and focus here? I'd be very appreciative."

"See? I knew it was a good think to keep you around" Jay whispered, her lips close to Vicky's ear, smiling at Henry over her shoulder.

"Now if your two...friends can just keep their heads about them and not do anything stupid, everything will be fine! And by stupid, I mean it would be extraordinarily stupid to think that you could get to me before I slit her throat open." She looked pointedly at Henry, as if she could read his thoughts through his carefully schooled expression.

"I'm not so sure about that" Henry mused, never once looking away from Jay. To look at Vicky would be too distracting, and he couldn't afford to be anything less then crystal clear right now.

Mike reached out and grabbed Henry's sleeve behind him, hanging on and not letting go. "Trust me, it would be the definition of stupid."

"I wasn't questioning whether or not it would be stupid, I was questioning that the witch could move fast enough to do anything before I got her to." Henry was coiling his strength, just waiting for a moment, a breath, a single heartbeat where she would be distracted enough and he could make his move.

"I was fast enough not to get shot" jay offered, "Are you faster then a speeding bullet? See I thought you were a vampire, I had no idea that you moonlighted as superman."

A slight growl escaped Henry's throat and he felt Mike tighten his grip, as if a mortal holding onto a scrap of cloth could hold him back. Vicky gasped, barely an audible sound but it pulled Henry's attention back. A small trail of blood wound down her neck to soak into the collar of her shirt.

"Pay attention boys" Jay looked back and forth between them but never really stopped focusing on Henry's movements. Every blink he made was noticed, and he wasn't all that sure that he really was faster then jay, although he had no way of explaining how even a witch could be faster then him.

"Good" Jay sighed, apparently satisfied. "Now this is fairly simple, you've got a choice here vampire; tell me where Christina is, or your friend dies. Nothing could be easier. Whose life do you value more, Christinas? Or Victoria Nelsons?"

Vicky stiffened in Jay's hold, and tried not to look for an answer in Henry's eyes. He'd chosen Christina before, would it be different now? But he was leaving her now too, abandoning everything that had been between them.

Mike looked incredulously at Jay, before turning his back on her and confronting Henry.

"That's what this is all about?" he asked, "Your ex? For Christ's sake Henry, just tell her! Christina's a big girl, I'm sure she knows how to take care of herself and sort out her own problems! And what's the worst case scenario here? That's there's one fewer vampire in the world? Doesn't really sound like all that bad to me!"

"It's not that simple" Henry forced out through his teeth, never looking away from Vicky and jay.

"What's not simple?!" Mike nearly shook him. "Tell her where Christina is and Vicky lives! That sounds pretty simple to me!"

"Can I have a say in this little discussion?" said a voice from the door, a voice Henry recognized, and one that couldn't possibly be here, now.

"Because my vote would be for the bitch to die!"


	23. Chapter 23

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 23

Henry was in motion before the visitor had stopped speaking, using the moment, the distraction to get to Vicky and get her as far away from who had just walked in as possible. Right now, that was even more imperative then getting her away from Jay.

But even as he moved, he saw that she was faster. She'd always been faster.

He watched, almost in slow motion, as she got ahead of him. Even though they were moving too fast for anyone else in the room to see, it was clear to him that he would be just that little bit too slow...one hundredth of a heart beat that would cost him Vicky's life.

But he didn't count on someone else being on his side.

Jay recognized that voice too, it was as if the nightmares of her childhood has taken on form, sound and life, a persona of a woman who appeared only slightly older then herself.

Christina.

She moved almost simultaneously with Henry, pushing Vicky away towards the back room and pulling another knife, magic already swirling catching fire in the air as it sprung out scorching the floor and ceiling black.

Christina jumped back, arm smoking and the fabric of her sleeve burnt and charred. One knife flew past leaving a delicate line of red along her shoulder. She turned, hissing at the strange girl who had deprived her of her kill, as she ducked under Henry's arm, his hands outstretched for her throat.

Another knife flew, burning bright with magic, this time straight on course. It hit her shoulder, just above the heart and the magic began to burn into her skin like fire. Like sunlight.

Its heat intensified when she tried to pull it out, her fingers coiling around the hilt and the smell of melting flesh filling the room instantly.

She snarled, lashing out at Henry, feeling her nails taste his blood, before dashing out the door and into the night.

Henry followed out into the hall, searching around, trying to catch a glimpse of her but all he saw was the door banging open, nearly torn off its hinges.

Mike had caught Vicky when she was pushed back towards him, and he could have sworn that he only looked down for a second, but the rest was a blur. Literally. He hadn't had enough time to recognize the woman in the doorway, the fact that he knew was a woman had more to due with the tone of her voice then any visual clues. Henry had been a streak of colour when he'd moved to intercept the other blurry streak-- that was most likely their newest visitor...then he'd nearly been blinded by what seemed like fire sprouting up from the middle of nowhere.

He looked up, blinking after images out of his eyes and saw that Henry was now standing by the door and there wasn't any sign of their second surprise guest. Jay looked like she hadn't moved at all. If that fireworks display was what the witch was capable of, he might be out of his league. Vampires, witches, ghouls...he was so far out of his depth he couldn't even see the shore anymore.

"What the hell just happened here?!" he demanded, standing up and helping Vicky to lean against the side of the desk. He stared at Henry, one arm steadying Vicky, the other automatically reaching to rest on his gun only to find it missing. And remembering it was now a solid black puddle on the floor only increased his agitation.

Jay coughed, bringing his attention back to the girl who had just a moment ago been holding a knife to Vicky's throat.

"Looks like I don't need your help after all, vampire" she managed, doubling over and pausing for breath. "If I'd known that I could have just waited around for Christina to show up and try to kill your girlfriend, I wouldn't have gone to all the bother."

She looked up, meeting Henry's eyes briefly before falling to the floor, blood seeping out from beneath her to mingle with the old stains on the wood.


	24. Chapter 24

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 24

Vicky was the first to move, pushing out from behind Mike and kneeling down beside Jay's still form on the floor.

"Vic" Mike cautioned, as she reached across to roll the girl over—this was someone who had just been holding a knife to her throat after all. God knew what she was capable of, magically or morally, and Mike didn't like the thought of Vicky getting within hands reach of her again. Or at least not until he'd checked her for weapons.

Vicky reached over, getting a hold of her jacket and pulled Jay onto her back.

"Oh God" Vicky breathed. There was so much blood, it covered the girl and ran onto the floor soaking into her jeans where she knelt.

"We need to get her to a hospital" she yelled back over her shoulder, as she took off the sweater she'd grabbed on the way out the door earlier and began to apply pressure to Jay's abdomen.

"Mike, go use the radio in the car outside and call for an ambulance!"

Mike paused for a second, looking down at Vicky, hands already soaked in blood as she leaned down to check jay's breathing. He'd been a cop for years, so had Vicky. He knew the look of a fatal wound when he saw one, there was just too much blood, too much damage…even if they'd been right outside a hospital it would be 50-50 odds at best.

"Mike!" she yelled again, turning to glare at him, fire in her eyes. You didn't' argue with Victoria Nelson when she looked at you like that, Mike thought and ran out the door. If the girl knew what was good for her, she'd stay alive just so that she wouldn't' have to face Vicky's wrath!

Her sweater was now thoroughly soaked and useless, but she continued holding it against Jay's stomach while blood pooled and ran between her fingers. God, it was so much blood.

"Stay with me" she whispered, "help is coming, just stay with me." Vicky glanced up at jay's face and felt her eyes widen in shock. She was so young, barely an adult, youth still softening her features in sleep. It was her eyes that aged her, when they were closed her true age came through….can't be more then 22 Vicky thought. She seen it before of course, but it never ceased to amaze and sadden her. Children who had faced and lived through such tragedy, horrors unimaginable that no matter how young they appeared, their eyes were centuries old and disillusioned with the world.

She reached up, pulling aside the tall collar to check her pulse, fingers barely grazing the skin when her wrist was grasped in an iron hand and forced back.

Jay's eyes met hers briefly, clear and hinting of danger, before clouding with pain and squeezing shut while an involuntary gasp escaped her lips.

"You're going to be fine," Vicky assured her, "an ambulance is coming, and….you're …you're going to be just fine."

"No ambulance" jay managed, "no hospitals."

Vicky shook her head, thinking that jay was slipping into shock and delirium she was in so much pain.

"It's going to be okay" she repeated, saying it like a mantra, as if repeating it would make it true, as if saying it out loud would heal the wound.

It had been meant for her. Vicky had recognized the voice at the door even before she'd caught a blurred glimpse of Christina in the doorway, reaching out, claws going for Vicky's throat and a smile of triumph on her face. Vicky had thought she was dead then, Christina had been so fast, she still didn't' know how it was that she'd been able to see her move, but she had. Some people said that everything slows down when you're about to die, that your life has time to replay in that second…maybe that was how. Either way, Christina had meant to kill her, would have killed her if Jay hadn't pushed her out of the way, taken the blow that was meant for her. This was twice now that Jay had saved her life and Vicky would be damned if she let her die now.

Jay coughed, blood staining her lips red and causing her to curl inwards in pain. She licked her lips, hands weakly attempting to push Vicky's away.

"Trust me," she said, eyes squinting to make out Henry in the background, where he stood unmoving in the doorway. "You don't' want me going to that hospital, vampire."

"I don't know that I really have much of an opinion" Henry said, never moving. She was dead either way, even he could see it and how didn't really matter to him now that she wasn't going to be a threat to him or Vicky…. Or to Christina.

"You won't like the questions that the autopsy uncovers, might bring up recent bad memories that could get someone like you into trouble," she gasped, teeth biting into her lower lip. "I'd tell you whatever you wanted to know about my history with Christina, about why I want her dead" Jay added, sweetening the deal.

"And what, pray tell, do you expect me to do about this anyways? I can't just run around changing every dying mortal I meet" Henry asked, still lounging in the doorway, his interest peeked but not wanting to rush into the dark after the unknown.

"In all your lifetimes, you've never had any medical training?"

Henry laughed. "You won't go to a hospital, but you want me to play doctor? this is preposterous. You've lost too much blood, you're dead either way and I see nothing useful in postponing it and ending up with a dead body on my hands."

"Henry!" Vicky exclaimed, shocked. He couldn't mean it, he couldn't seriously be suggesting that they just sit around and watch her die and do nothing. Henry couldn't be that cold.

"What would you have me do Vicky?" he asked her, staring into her reproachful glare that was just tear filled enough to make him soften his tone. "I've had to watch friends die, colleagues, lovers, knowing that I could bring them back, make them live again, live forever. If I changed everyone who asked, everyone who was dying, the world would be almost solely populated by vampires. I can't do that…not even for you."

Vicky looked away, knowing that he was right, but hating him for it a little too.

"Can you do what she asks then?" Vicky said, not meeting his eyes. "Not change her, but…save her?"

He looked down at the girl again, before turning back to Vicky, compassion and sorrow shading his eyes dark as he lay a hand on her shoulder. Vicky's capacity to love was so great, even when she tried to keep a hard shell around her and block the world out it still got through her walls and defenses. He could see her heart breaking in the tears that rolled unnoticed down her cheeks as she looked at him with hope, as if he could fix it all and keep her world from ending.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "She's loosing too much blood, the damage is just too great."

Vicky dropped her head, pulling away from his hand and continuing to apply pressure, refusing to believe the truth in his words.

"If there was a way though?" Jay breathed, almost too quietly for Vicky to hear.

"If there was a way, yes" Henry said, looking at Vicky's bent form as she knelt in the blood that soaked the floor.

Jay sighed relieved, leaning back.

"This won't kill me, at least not right away" Jay said, her eyes going unfocused and glinting a dark blue, so dark it was almost purple around the iris's. "But you won't have that much time, my strength isn't what it used to be" she smiled mockingly.

Henry leaned forwards, ready to snatch Vicky away but then watched in fascination as lines of light began to streak from jay's fingers where they lay near Vicky's over the wounds.

Vicky felt the tingle of magic as stray strands of light moved over her fingertips, joining with the others and twisting into a tight mesh that joined together the gaping tears in Jay's abdomen. The blood flow slowed, becoming only small lines of red flowing through the light mesh like strands of silk. She lifted her hands amazed, blood still staining them but the wounds in Jay's skin were filled with light instead.

"I need to get her back to my apartment" Henry said, bending around Vicky to pull Jay into his arms. She looked unconscious again, but a slight tensing of her frame when he held her told him she was still awake, just conserving her strength to feed the magic that was keeping her alive.

"We don't' have time to take the slow route," Henry added. "You and Mike will have to follow in the car."

Vicky nodded mutely, watching him stride from the room and hearing the outer door click before he was gone. He was doing this for her, she knew it, because she'd asked him, because it could have been her—was supposed to be her.

Vicky sat there a moment longer, letting the enormity of that soak in, before pushing herself slowly to her feet and going outside to find Mike and tell him to cancel the ambulance and drive like hell was breaking loose to Henry's apartment.

--

Henry took the rooftops from Vicky's office to his building, moving faster then sight. A particularly keen eyed individual might see a slight blur, a darker streak against the night sky if they happened to be looking up at the right time. But even then, they'd put it off as a trick of their eyes, or the moonlight, after a long night and not even remember anything out of the ordinary in the morning.

The girl in his arms barely moved, barely breathed as he made his way through the night. He tried to think of the words to warn her, to tell her about the risks, the pain of what they were going to do, of what he's agreed to do to her tonight; surgery without the benefit of being put to sleep, of painkillers or drugs of any kind. But somehow he had the sinking feeling that she knew exactly what was going to happen anyways.

He still didn't' know why he'd agreed to it anyways. The girl was most likely dead. He tried to convince himself that it was because he was interested, intrigued with finally getting answers to his many questions about what she wanted with Christina, but that wasn't it completely.

Vicky had been crying. She'd looked up at him with tears in her eyes and asked him to save this girl's life. In all his lifetimes and centuries he had no defense, no possible way to refuse that. Refuse her.

He reached his own building finally, the journey seeming longer then ever before and yet at the same time far too short. He dropped off of the roof onto the balcony, easily kicking the door open, metal screeching into the night as the lock and handle broke. Gently, he lay Jay down on the table, the dark wood framing her body while the lighted surface cast a blue tinge to her already far too pale skin.

His old kit was in the trunk in the other room, packed away with the old army uniforms and worn boots, metals and rifle. They still had the blood and dust and mud dried on them from when he'd last worn them. He hesitated, standing above her, watching her while she lay there, practically helpless, all her energy focused inwards but still acutely aware of him none the less.

'What do we have here, Lt. Fitz?' the voice of his old teacher and superior officer ghosted through his mind.

"Rule one" he murmured. "Always look at what you're dealing with first." On the front lines this was essential; 'don't waste time on those already dead' the ghost voice directed him.

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. This wasn't the trenches where staying with one patient who was dying meant that others died who might have lived. And Vicky had asked him to do this. He wouldn't' fail her.

Keeping that in the forefront of his mind, he reached out straightening Jay's body on the table and ripping off the blood stained and torn shirt, using what was left of it to wipe the blood off her skin and see the extent of the injury.

Henry froze, his heart beginning to beat erratically, but unlike Vicky the gaping wounds and blood weren't what shocked him. He pulled the rest of the cloth off her arms roughly, exposing her body and skin to the light and his eyes.

He hands shook as he slowly reached up, fingertips tracing the line of her jaw, then down the inside of one arm, then the other from wrist to elbow.

Scars marred her neck, twin lines torn deep into the flesh and matching sets on the inside of her elbows and left wrist. Bite marks. Vampire teeth had ripped that skin, not to feed, or scare, but to inflict as much pain as possible by nearly tearing her throat out. How she'd lived through it he had no idea, but the marks were old.

Jay's heart rate sped up dramatically at his touch, and she moved slightly, the blood flow increasing as she struggled to come fully back to consciousness and defend herself. Henry quickly removed his hands from her skin, backing away a few steps towards the bedroom and she quieted. He was sure that there was a story behind Jay's scars but if he didn't get started soon she'd be dead and he'd never have the opportunity to hear it.

He left the room briefly and returned carrying a green cloth bag from which he removed more smaller pieces of cloth that when unrolled held gleaming instruments; scalpels and clamps and long flat hooks designed to pull back skin and muscle. He knelt before Jay, holding the blade in one hand poised above her while lines of sutures and needles lay waiting beside him. He took a breath and tried to remember back nearly a century ago, tried not to notice how Jay's hands profilactively clutched at the legs of the table and her jaw clenched. Sunrise was coming and he had far too little time as it was to finish the task Vicky had set before him.


	25. Chapter 25

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 25

Mike sped through the tail end of a yellow light, coming to a stop, illegally, directly in front of Henry Fitzroy's building. He barely had time to pull the keys from the ignition and switch off the sirens before Vicky was out of her seat and running for the front door. He'd tried to rationalize it all the way over, how Henry could possibly save the girl, but he still couldn't make himself believe that when they finally got here everything would be alright. He'd seen people die, friends die from injuries that were less severe and no matter how he tried to believe otherwise he just couldn't convince himself that the world's rules would change, that fate would turn a blind eye, even for one night. That the girl would live.

He didn't' think he could stand it if Vicky looked at him the way she had what seemed like only moments ago in her office. With her heart in her eyes and each tear that threatened to fall pleading him to make it alright again. It just wasn't in his power to stop time, to bring back a girl from the precipices of death. But it was in someone else's.

He sat a moment, as the truth of that sunk in. It was in Henry's power to bring this girl back, to make her live again, after a fashion, but could he live with letting Henry make that choice for someone? Consigning them to a life of shadows and blood and murder? His conscience was weighted down with so many of his other actions for Vicky and Henry…he didn't know if he could survive anything more.

Vicky cursed as her foot caught on an upturned corner of concrete and she nearly fell into the open doorway of Henry's building. There wasn't time for this! The drive had seemed perilously slow, and it had taken precious minutes to convince Mike why she had let Henry take Jay instead of waiting for an ambulance. They were racing against the dawn and Vicky turned to see it catching up behind them, its vanguard lightening the dark night with blue in the east. There wasn't much time….

"Mike!" she called, startling him out of his thoughts and spurring him into motion.

"Hurry up!" Vicky pulled open the door, not waiting to see if he followed, barely caring if he did anymore. Henry would save the girl, she let no doubt into her mind, more because she didn't know if she could live with Jay's death on her soul then any divine belief in the power of prayer. That had left her along with all hope of her vision returning.

She skidded to a stop in front of the elevator, frantically pushing the button and barely noticing the doorman moving to intercept her.

"This is a private building miss, I'm afraid you can't go up without an escort."

Vicky turned ready to snarl something at him about exactly what he and his 'escort' could do, but before she could say anything he'd turned away from her towards the door again.

"Will this do?" Mike asked casually, even though he was basically jogging across the lobby. He was holding up his police badge, the golden shield so efficiently stopping the man's protests that if it hadn't been for her own personal experience, and especially in light of recent events, Vicky might have wondered if it was magic.

"I'll still need to know who you're here to see, detective" the man added, more to do with building gossip then official business Vicky was sure.

"Henry Fitzroy, and don't worry about calling up, he's expecting us." Mike answered as Vicky hadn't stopped pushing the elevator button except to glare at the ceiling as if it was purposely holding the elevator on some other floor.

"Oh! I hope Mr. Fitzroy isn't in any sort of trouble! He's an especially special tenant, owns most of the top floor." Yup, definitely gossip, Vicky thought.

"Just some parking tickets," Mike started, only to be grabbed by Vicky and pulled into the elevator that had apparently chosen that moment to be cooperative. "Nothing to worry about!' he called out the closing door.

Vicky pushed the button for the penthouse and watched as the numbers lit up in sequence and they climbed.

"Come on" she breathed, hands fidgeting as she stabbed at the buttons again.

"Vic," Mike started, trying to find the words to lessen the shock if Prince Charming up there hadn't been able to follow through on the happily ever after he had apparently promised, after all.

"I know it's a long shot" Vicky said, quietly, not meeting his eyes. "but it's all we have Mike." She took a breath and held it for a moment…."we both know that there's nothing a hospital could have done for her anyways, even if she'd lived long enough to make it there in the ambulance. Henry was…is her only chance."

She looked up at him, standing braced in the corner by the control panel as if just the weight of thinking about what might happen could crush her.

"Jay saved my life Mike, twice. When she didn't have to, when she could have walked away or done nothing. I saw what it cost her, what the magic that she uses takes from her every time. And still she chose to save me, even though," her voice faltered briefly before she took a breath and continued "…even though it meant that she took the blow… instead of me. I can't stand by and watch her die and know that I haven't tried everything. I just can't, Mike."

He could have argued with her if she'd come back with an irrational faith in Henry, he could have reasoned out the flaws in magic and vampires and made her face what could happen in the real world. But he couldn't talk her out of that. Someone being willing to give their life for you, couldn't be reasoned away with 'you did everything Humanly possible' when something supernaturally possible was still in the playing field.

The small chime sounded, announcing their arrival and Vicky was squeezing out the door practically before it had opened.

But he still couldn't' let her walk into the choice that might be before them unprepared.

"Vicky," he said grabbing her arm with one hand, the other automatically going up to block her strike as she tried to knock his arm down….and break it in the process.

"Vicky!" he pushed, holding her still until she stopped fighting and listened.

"I know you don't want to hear it, but damn it I can't let you walk into this unprepared. Not to cast doubt on Henry's medical skills, but it's been a long time…even the best doctors now might not be able to do anything…Vicky you need to be prepared for the fact that he might not be able to save her."

"Don't you think I know that!?" she broke free and strayed blindly a few steps down the hallway. "I lived with that reality every day as a cop, knowing that I might have to make a choice to live, or keep someone I love alive or kill. I have to try, Mike."

"I know" he said, watching her turn again towards Henry's door, her hand almost on the knob and hating himself that he couldn't keep silent. It was just as much for Jay as it was for Vicky that he spoke, he realized.

"But how far are you willing to go Vicky?"

She stopped, dead still but didn't turn back. Didn't look at him.

"When you've done everything medically possible, everything humanly possible, will that be enough? Could you let her die then? How far will you make Henry go, Jay go, to lighten your conscience?"


	26. Chapter 26

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 26

Vicky stood on the threshold of Henry's door, unable to move to open it or walk away with Mike's question ringing in her ears. How far would she go? Henry had said that he wouldn't, but she hadn't had the courage to ask him outright. But now? What if she walked into that room and Jay was dying, and Henry had done everything else he could to save her, but it just hadn't been enough? Would she ask him then? Could she do that to Jay? Take away the sun and whatever life she had and ask Henry to make her into something that Jay despised just to sooth her own guilt? She tried to tell herself that she wouldn't, that she would respect their decisions, even that it wouldn't' come to that, but still she couldn't make herself move further toward the door. It was as if the doubts in herself held her prisoner and if she never walked into Henry's apartment then she'd never be forced with the decision and never have to live with the consequences.

She felt rather then saw Mike come up behind her. A steady presence at her back, warm and familiar.

"I'm sorry Vicky," Mike whispered, his hands on her shoulders and head bent close to her hair. "I wish I could tell you that it's all going to be okay, or that Henry wouldn't do that, but we both know that things might go badly in there. You have to face the fact that sometimes you can't make it alright no matter how hard you try or how much you might want it."

"Henry won't do it" she answered, pulling away. "He said he wouldn't." but he'd ended the world because she'd asked him too. What was this compared to such an act of faith? Would he refuse her if she found the courage to ask?

"Alright" Mike said doubtfully, moving out from behind her to open the door.

He thought he was ready for what he would see, had been trying to caution Vicky and prepare her for what might happen, but he was across the room before he realized it, his fist knocking Henry to the floor and away from the girl that lay bleeding on the table.

At first glance, it had looked like some macabre modernization of a torture chamber, Jay stretched out, backlit by light while Henry stood above her, gleaming metal in hands that were covered with blood. Her body was taunt against the wood, pain etched into her features, as Henry's hand moved to hold her down while the other pulled together torn flesh enough to cut straight and stitch closed. All that was missing was the iron maiden hanging in the corner.

Henry landed hard, taken totally by surprise the needle and clamps flying from his hand to land, contaminated now, on the floor. His lips pulled back in a growl, exposing his teeth and turning on Mike who was standing between him and the girl. He was maintaining a very tenuous hold on control, conscious of the sunrise ever approaching and the fact that he hadn't fed yet that night in the presence of so much spilt blood pushing him close to the edge.

"What in God's name are you doing Fitzroy?!" Mike shouted, still holding his position between Henry and Jay.

"What I have to," he snarled, getting to his feet and moving back towards Mike, while trying not to notice how the other man tensed and reached for what was still an empty gun holster.

"What did you expect Constable?" he asked, mocking. "No blood? Or perhaps that there was a fully equipped operating room in the basement?"

"I didn't think that you would be so barbaric as to do this without any way of putting her out!" Mike shouted, disgusted. "Or to help cope with the pain, this is inhuman Henry."

"So. Am. I."

They stood facing each other down, each waiting for the other to give ground and unwilling to be the first to move.

Vicky broke the silence, kneeling down beside the table where Jay lay and trying to uncurl one of the other girls' hands from around the leg posts.

"She knew Mike."

"Vicky," he said, stifled anger in his tone. "If you're trying to make excuses for him…"

"I'm not," she looked up at him, trying to make him believe it, believe her and not what he saw with his eyes. "She asked Henry to do this Mike, she knew the risks."

"She was probably delirious! She needs to be in a hospital!" he argued, looking around for a phone. "They have real doctors, equipment, drugs…"

"She'd never make it" Vicky said quietly, finally prying Jay's hand loose from the wood and turning it over in her hands. There were splinters deep into the palm, leaving trails of blood strikingly dark across the surface.

"Vicky, she can't stay here. Not like this!"

"She knew, Mike. It was the only choice."

Mike's hands waved at his sides in disbelief, they could just sit by and watch while she endured what was closer to torture then surgery. Not when there were other options available. Even chancing death by getting her to a hospital seemed favorable.

"Or," Henry said, leaning causally against the end of the couch, close to Jay but with Mike still guarding the middle ground. "You could continue to argue until you're scruples are satisfied while she bleeds to death."

Vicky looked down, noticing that blood was in fact leeching out from the wounds in jay's abdomen again. Magic had its price and jay must be too weak now to sustain it, even if it would keep her alive. She was so pale, her skin almost translucent, the blue veins showing clearly beneath the skin that seemed to lack blood and colour all together.

"Mike," Vicky said again, trying to make him see that there really was no other choice, even now.

His hands fell down in defeat, and he stepped back, ceding ground. "I can't watch this".

"Then make yourself useful and close the blinds" Henry snapped, pushing past him and picking up another needle. He could literally feel the sun inching closer to the horizon and his time running out before he would be as good as dead for the duration of the day. He had time to finish, just, but it would be close and what the day would bring would be out of even his hands.

"Vicky," he said, trying to spare her this, "I'll need more towels and linen for bandages, could you get them from the bathroom?"

"I'm not leaving her, Henry" Vicky said, not even looking away from Jay.

He didn't' have time for the ensuing argument that it would take to make her leave, nor could he force her. He was beginning to see a distinct downside to having women around that were strong enough to block out his compulsions. He reached for a scalpel, testing its weight in his hand while blocking out his surroundings. Mike receded to the background, Vicky paled and even his consciousness of Jay narrowed down to only the physical wounds before him.

One long tear remained gaping and Vicky looked away as Henry moved, trimming the edges and pulling the skin closed with neat rows of black suture.

Jay tensed, her fingers coiling tighter around the wood, but her other hand remaining lax in Vicky's grip. Henry pushed her back down when her back arched, her body trying despite her will to move away from the pain, and blood stained her lips red where she bit them to keep from crying out.

"Soon," Vicky whispered, both a promise and a pleading for it to be over. It had to be over soon.

Each second seemed excruciating but finally after what could only be minutes between dawn and full daybreak, Henry sat back, dropping the last of the bloodied instruments onto the table, before standing up and slowly stumbling into the bedroom.

He looked grey with exhaustion, the approaching day taking its toll and his fangs still showed when he spoke, evidence of his hunger that must be hard to ignore with the scent of blood all around him.

"I've done all I can," he said, sitting down on the bed, barely having the strength to bring his head up and meet Vicky's eyes. "Clean and bandage the wounds carefully, so as not to rip the stitches. She can't loose any more blood. If she survives the day…" he started, looking towards the window as if tracking the movement of the sun into the sky from behind the black out blinds, before sinking down into the sheets, his strength gone.

Vicky sat beside him a moment longer, watching him sleep. He'd done this for her, pushed himself to the edge of exhaustion and tested his self control beyond all boundaries because she'd asked him to. She knew that there was still a distinct possibility that Jay might not make it through the day, that despite their efforts it wouldn't' be enough to save her…. the blood loss, the price of using magic when wounded, it might have pushed Jay far too close to death for them to pull her back from. But it was as far as Vicky was willing to go. Sometimes there was nothing you could do, could choose to do, but wait.


	27. Chapter 27

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 27

Coreen waited just inside the fragile circle of light emitted from the door, and watched the sun sink below the buildings and high-rises of downtown Toronto. The street immediately seemed darker, more menacing, even though it was only dusk and most people wouldn't notice the absence of the sun for another half hour yet. It was never really dark in the city though, but lately the unlighted streets and dark alleys had begun to seem dark enough to Coreen. She peered out, everything in her wanting to wait in the relative safety of the bus terminal but refusing to go inside without Vicky.

Vicky had called her early this morning, just after dawn and asked her to get some stuff and meet her at the bus station tonight at 5:00. But that was nearly two hours ago and there was still no sign of Vicky.

She walked the perimeter of the light again, glancing anxiously up at the ever darkening sky, before taking a deep breath and stepping out and onto the street. The office was only 20 or 30 minutes from here, she could still make it there if she hurried. And maybe she'd get lucky again and Vicky would be there and she could finally hear what was going on!

Vicky had been brusque on the phone earlier, and while she was never really what could be considered chatty, it had made the relief that Coreen had from hearing from her recede just a little and be replaced with worry….Now with Vicky over two hours late, and not answering her cell phone that little worry had grown up to become one big monster of a worry. And in their world, that might not be speaking metaphorically.

Coreen looked up and down the street one more time, hoping that Vicky would materialize out of the—by now—crowd of semi-familiar faces, but finding no one. She tightened the strap of her bag over her shoulder and clutched at the small mismatch of every good luck or protection from evil talisman she'd been able to find in the last six hours, stuffed in her pocket. Maybe it was silly, but she wasn't going to turn away anything that had even the most remote chance of working; holy water vials, blessed crystals, hand drawn spells and pentagrams, she'd give it all a try!

No sense in putting it off any longer, she thought, turning away from the building and heading out into the ever darkening street.

A hand grabbed her arm, another reaching around her waist and began pulling her backwards. There didn't seem to be any air to scream with as she fought, managing to get one arm free and trying to strike out at whatever had ahold of her.

She was pulled around, facing into the light she automatically brought her hand up trying to push off her attacker. A small tinkling sound, like chimes registered before--

"Coreen! I thought Vicky told you to wait inside? Why are you wandering around outside and after dark?"

"MIKE!" Coreen sighed in relief, throwing her hands around his neck and almost over balancing them.

"I thought…." …I though you were the serial killer after Vicky… "I thought… That Vicky was coming," she finished lamely, looking around trying to hide a flush of embarrassment with swirling hair. She'd always made noise over Henry; how hot he was, his probable skills—both supernaturally and the more human variety-- that had been honed to what was most likely near perfection after hundreds of years, but secretly, she didn't envy Vicky her choices. Mike was nothing to scoff at either! And here she'd literally thrown herself at him!

"Yeah, well, sometimes people just don't know what's good for them" he said, eyes searching the street around them before pulling her under his arm and steering them towards the door.

"Let's get inside, it's getting dark out….. and what the hell is this stuff Coreen?" he was brushing at his coat where a palm sized stain was spreading into the fabric.

She closed her eyes in mortification, a serial killer jumping in as a distraction would be welcome right about now.

"Holy water," she confessed quietly as they made their way through the terminal.

"uh, okay" he said, pushing open the door at the other end of the room and ushering her out to where rows and rows of buses were waiting, some with passengers already getting on.

Ottawa, London, Winnipeg, Montreal, Halifax, New York, Boston…..she read the signs in the bus windows her feet slowing until she finally stopped and turned to look up at Mike, refusing to move.

"Mike, what's going on? Why am I at the bus terminal? And where is Vicky?" She was getting a bad feeling about this.

He pulled her down an empty aisle between two buses.

"Holy water and crosses aren't going to cut it this time Coreen" he said, looking around before reaching into his coat and pushing something into her hands. "I need you to take this and get on the bus to Montreal, it's leaving in ten minutes. I'll call you when things settle down, but right now Vicky and I both need to know that you're safe."

She looked down, seeing his backup gun in her hand, a paper ticket in the other. "Mike, no, I'm not just going to run and abandon you guys! If this is about whoever's after Vicky then I should be here! I can help run names…" she trailed off, her mind leaping ahead of her words to a horrible conclusion.

"Something's already happened, hasn't it? You already know who it is, and that's why you're trying to send me away. Mike, where is Vicky?"

"She's okay….She's with Henry, we were surprised last night by Jay-"

"That Witch!" Coreen swore. "Mike," she grabbed his arm, excited. "I can help with this, really I can, I've been reading more about magic and might have found something that we can try."

"Coreen, I saw what we're up against last night. It's not something that you're going to be able to fight with some hocus pocus spell or two." He put a finger over her lips to stop her when she would have continued to protest. "It's not just Jay. Christina's back and one or both of them are after Vicky and I wouldn't put it past either of them to use you to get to her. So I need you safe, out of the city where they can't find you."

She stood silently in front of him, trying to find an argument that would work, both to convince him and herself that she wouldn't be a risk if she stayed.

"Coreen, please, it's getting dark and Vicky's alone at Henry's."

She nodded, hearing him sigh in relief and start pulling her around the next two buses and into the line of people boarding to go to Montreal.

--

Christina let the man drop to the ground and leaned back, satisfied, against the stone wall. Despite the day and more then enough blood the wound in her shoulder refused to heal, tainted with magic it burned still. She had almost waited another day, to be at full strength again, but was glad now of her decision that even injured she was more then a match for Henry Fitzroy.

So the annoying interference had a name did it? Jay….Well that would certainly make her easier to find and kill later, but right now there was someone else she needed to see.

She walked out of the alley and into the street, closing her eyes briefly at the last of the sun, before turning away from the bus terminal and into the night.


	28. Chapter 28

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 28

Vicky paced the confines of Henry's apartment for more times then she cared to count, glancing at the end of each circle at the closed blinds that covered the windows, checking the position of the sun. 'A watched pot never boils' as her Gran was used to say, and apparently nor would a sun set faster no matter how often you wished it or checked.

She knew it was foolish, but as the afternoon grew on she'd continued to feel an increasing dread, as if the lengthening shadows were waiting to swallow her whole. She didn't know which she wanted more, the sun to set so Henry would wake up, or the sun to never leave the sky and keep the dark at bay forever. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, least of all him, but she felt a little out of her league here with witches and ghouls and rogue vampires to boot. And Henry, lying in the other room as if dead, did very little to relive her worries.

Vicky stopped again, pausing her aimless walking to watch the other person who passed the day in Henry's suite. Jay lay motionless, as if dead herself, much as she had all day. Vicky had managed to convince herself that the girl had died half a dozen times and only holding a hand over her heart to check that she still breathed had convinced her enough to continuer her pacing.

The waiting was intolerable and with each second it seemed like the threat of danger grew. Vicky forced herself to stop, sit down and take a deep breath to expel the anxiety that was pulsing through her, rising with each heart beat.

There wasn't any danger, they were safe in Henry's apartment. And in any case, nothing would happen until nightfall when Christina woke, or Jay did. Which ever came first, and sunset was still a good hour away. But the rational thought did little to dispel her fears.

A small noise nearly made her jump off the chair, hand automatically going to her hip after so many years of discipline, brushing past the baton before she remembered she carried no gun.

Jay shifted, the first signs of life she'd made all day, the movement drawing Vicky's attention as a frown etched into her features and another small cry escaped her lips. Vicky couldn't imagine the pain she was most likely in, she had sent Mike out for more bandages and painkillers, something a vampire evidently had no need of, but that was hours ago and he hadn't yet returned.

A fact that was responsible for a large part of her increasing worry.

Vicky knelt beside the chair that Jay was curled into, lightly pushing back trailing curls off a damp forehead.

"Is there anything I can do? Anything at all?" she asked, hoping for some small way, anything, to ease the pain.

"Would you like some water? Are you thirsty?"

Jay moved restlessly, her mouth whispering words to soft for Vicky to hear. She leaned closer, intent on hearing the soft sounds that might spell the only comfort she could give.

She felt breath touch her cheek, blow stray hairs against her neck before Jay's lips brushed her jaw, just below her ear. She strained, eyes closed in concentration trying to make out the girls' words, still breathless whispers, before feeling one of Jay's hands grip hers tightly…and then only darkness.

--

Vicky woke, sitting bolt upright from the chair where she dozed, a urgent sense of alarm confirming before she even had to look, that the sun had set. Dark shadows lurked in the corners of the room, the few lights placed mostly for ambience doing nothing to dispel them.

She shook out the cotton and cobwebs that seemed to have taken up residence in her head, as she stood, moving towards Henry's door. With the night he should be awake now too, the thought already easing her alarm and causing her to unconsciously quicken her steps.

Before she was more then half way across the room, his doors opened with a gust of air that seemed to sweep the room before blowing the outer doors open and closed. She barely had time to register the small touch on her cheek of his reassurance, before he was gone.

--

Henry didn't bother with opening doors, waiting for elevators or time consuming explanations to curious doormen, but took directly to the rooftops. Seeking the quickest exit from the building and those within. He was dangerously close to the darkness tonight, more vampire then man, almost all traces of humanity forgotten from pushing himself too hard and too far yesterday.

There was just enough of a whisper left to make him leave his home to hunt. To leave the two women who had been waiting, easy and accessible in his apartment and seek elsewhere.

It had nearly overcome him when Vicky had moved towards his bedroom…did she know that her blood sped up, her pulse beating faster as she did so? If he thought she knew what sort of affect it had on him, he would call her a tease.

He pushed himself to travel farther into the night, instinct urging him to find prey away from his dwelling where no traces could lead back to him. He roused himself enough to look down, noting his clothes still torn and splattered with blood—not his but damning all the same. Not dressed for the opera circuit tonight he changed direction, heading east, away from downtown. Princes, paupers, debutant or harlots, there was always someone. And blood was blood.

He remembered not to kill them. Barely. The thought of returning home to Vicky with blood and death on his hands, to face her recriminations—loud even when unvoiced, make him pull back and find restraint, the control he'd disciplined himself to over the centuries.

He lifted his head from the man's neck, holding him still while implanting a false and entirely mortal memory for tonight.

But even as he finished speaking, and lay the man, now unconscious, sleeping off a night of too much drinking with strangers he'd met in a bar, he felt the first stirrings of unease. Ripples of power that reached him even at this distance and put terror's mark upon his soul.

--

Vicky walked back to the chair, forcing her restless hands and legs to be still. To give the appearance of calm, while inside her alarms were going off screaming of danger.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked, barely able to believe that she had managed to fall asleep with the dark menace that filled the room like dense fog.

"Not long," jay leaned forwards, curled in the chair as if holding in the pain. "Maybe an hour? A little less."

Jay winced, at she lay back against the chair arm, the movement jarring stitches and skin pulled too tight.

"Mike should be back soon," Vicky assured, with more conviction then she felt right now. "He'll have some painkillers, more bandages….I'm sorry I don't have anything here to give you."

"That's alright. I'm feeling better tonight. Thank you." There seemed to be a double meaning to her words but Vicky's mind felt too slow and clouded to decipher it.

"I suppose anything would be better then last night," she smiled, trying to break the mood and create a sense of camaraderie with the other woman.

"Almost anything."

The silence stretched and Vicky learned that something could, in fact, be worse then waiting. That sitting, for all the world calm and at ease, quietly trying to make conversation in a luxurious condo with a mysterious woman who's motives and even identity had been the source of numerous plaguing questions just a day ago, was next to impossible to endure when her sense of fear and dread was growing every moment. She clasped her hands to stop them from fidgeting, from automatically searching for a weapon to hold, but couldn't stop the trained movement of her eyes as they skimmed over the windows then to the door and back again.

"Henry's going to want answers when he returns, isn't he?" An olive branch offered from a most unexpected source, Vicky sighed in relief. The fact that jay had initiated conversation amazing enough, but the reassurance that Vicky felt hearing the confirmation from another person that Henry _would_ be back was nearly enough to bring her to tears.

"I think he's owed them, especially where Christina is concerned."

Jay looked down for a moment before raising her head and meeting Vicky's eyes.

"Would you tell him?"

Vicky frowned in confusion, of course she would tell him. They had no secrets between them, partners couldn't if they wanted to trust each other enough to put their lives in the others hands. But behind that automatic assertion, doubt gnawed at her. She had kept things from Henry, worse then her unsure feelings and secret desires there was something hidden in a box at the back of the bottom drawer of her desk that she wasn't sure he could ever know about.

She opened her mouth to say the obvious, to drown her own doubts with voiced certainty, but Jay cut her off.

"Would you tell him if you knew that it would change him? Wound him? Leave him with scars to carry for the rest of his existence?"

Vicky tried to keep her eyes from moving to Jay's arms, her neck where, beneath the covering clothing, scars from some past horrific trauma could be seen etched into her skin. Physical reminders of some greater hurt.

Unable to answer, she asked; "Is that what he needs to know? How you're involved with Christina? Your past?"

Jay shook her head slightly, looking down and away again.  
"No, although it's all so tangled now it may be impossible to unravel. But it is what he needs to know to kill Christina."


	29. Chapter 29

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 29

Vicky held herself absolutely still, focused on Jay's words, as if to move would be to make them unsaid.

_...to kill Christina._

True, she had no love for Henry's maker, the woman who had seduced him, turned him and then came back into his life every few centuries to have him clean up her messes, but kill her? Vicky knew what that was like, she'd been a cop and had to make those choices; kill a stranger or watch them kill someone you cared about, someone you loved. But that was instinct, it was a gut reaction, it wasn't this slow deliberate deception talked about late in the nights...it wasn't planned.

"What do you mean?" Maybe she had misunderstood, she couldn't have been drawn into plotting murder and entrapment in some quiet conversation. Especially with so much at stake right now.

Jay looked at her, the girls' eyes far too old and wise, even clouded with pain.

"You're really that innocent, aren't you?" she asked. "After everything you've seen, everything you've been through, you're still willing to believe." She looked baffled now, as if Vicky were some strange oddity, a puzzle with curved lines in a world of squares.

"No wonder you and Henry are good together," she breathed, a slight trace of irony colouring her words. "You both see evil done every day, yet can't believe that it actually exists in the world. That people can not just do evil, but are."

"I can't see it?! Me?!" She stood, shaking with anger holding out her arms. "I got all close and cuddly with real evil, I know that it's there and what it can do if given the chance, and I live every day with the knowledge, with the threat of it hanging over me, knowing that one day, or the next I'll be the one it comes for." She walked away, staring out the window at the lighted apartments and building through the glass.

"Them out there, they're your innocent ones. They have no idea that the things I fight even exist. Look at them, living their happy little lives, go to work, come home, make dinner, kiss your husband... make plans for tonight, tomorrow... next weekend. How am I supposed to do that?" She turned back to Jay, "Don't talk to me about evil until you've lived with the threat of not knowing if today is going to be the day it finally comes for you."

"Is that all that's been holding you back? I can help you with that," said a voice behind her. "Today is the day."

--

Mike sighed as the bus to Montreal finally pulled out of the station. He could see Coreen sitting close to the back, looking out the window at him her eyes big and round with fear even through the glass.

He'd wanted to be able to tell her that it was going to be okay. That he'd find whoever was after Vicky and they'd all live happily ever after, but this wasn't a world where he believed in happily ever after's anymore. Whatever world he was living in now, with vampires and witches and ghouls, it wasn't somewhere that he could make promises about tomorrow. To anyone.

They said hindsight is 20-20, that looking back things, patterns...choices and their consequences become clear as day. Well, looking back, Mike could see how it wasn't just one choice that had gotten him here, that had pulled him into this world where he was utterly out of his depth and struggling just to stay alive and maybe, just maybe keep some people he cared about alive too. It was a long list of choices, of decisions, each one pulling him closer and closer...pulling him into hell.

But each of those choices had a name to it, a face. Vicky. Each and every time he'd chosen her. And she'd chosen something else. Someone else.

They'd gone so far that he didn't even recognize her anymore. How could she sit by and watch Henry torture Jay like that? Even the thought, the memory brought bile up in his throat, revulsion a sour taste in his mouth. Even if she was a witch, even if she was the one who was after Vicky and Henry—and Mike knew that she would be perfectly willing to use them if it came to that—how could Vicky condone it? Torture a girl just to spare her conscience.

It was very clear that she wasn't the rookie who'd exasperated and frustrated him to no end, who'd challenged him and teased him and nearly drove him mad with her hunches and gut feelings and utter lack of common sense sometimes. She wasn't the person he'd fallen in love with anymore.

But that didn't mean that he didn't love her. Didn't want her with something akin to the burning need for air that you felt if you held your breathe too long.

Wouldn't gladly follow her down into a twisted supernatural hell just to have another shot with her.

But here he was, and he was no closer to her then the day this all started. If anything, she was only pushing him further and further away. And if he couldn't have her, he could at least have his self-respect, be able to look himself in the mirror and know that he was a good cop, a good man. If he stayed on this path then he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to do even that.

The bus pulled around the corner and he lost sight of it. He hoped he was doing the right thing sending Coreen away, she was an innocent bystander in this, if any of them were truly innocent anymore, and he didn't want to see her get hurt in the cross fire when this thing blew up.

Jay...Christina...they both had their own purposes here and it didn't matter who got caught up or hurt in it. But they were playing their game in his city and he couldn't just ignore that and walk away as if he didn't know. He had a responsibility to the people here and if there was any chance that he could pull himself out this situation, get free and clear again then it wasn't by ignoring that those two were going to turn Toronto into their private battleground to get to each other.

And then there was always Vicky. At the heart of the matter, as always. And he couldn't walk away from that either.

Mike sighed, checking his watch and then automatically the position of sun to confirm what his eyes didn't want to believe.

8:45. The sun had set. The light that remained was just a residual smolder on the horizon and the florescence glow of the street lights.

He grabbed the paper bag carrying bandages and supplies that Vicky had asked for and briskly pushed his way out of the train station, pausing at the side walk to dart between the parked cabs and jog across the street. His marked car sat just around the corner, illegally parked this time of day, and he was off-duty, but cops generally gave squad cars the benefit of the doubt when it came to parking tickets.

Lights and sirens and he should be able to make it to Henry's in 10 minutes flat.

He didn't even see what hit him, knocking him to the pavement, out cold and sending the bag skittering into an alley.

--

Vicky spun around, the voice sending shivers up her spine, but it wasn't the reason she turned. She remembered what had happened last time, and something, some feeling, a premonition made her jump across the room, hitting Jay midleap and knocking her to the ground.

She felt blood soaking into her shirt where her arm had landed on Jay's stomach, pulling stitches and hoped that she hadn't undone all of Henry's hard work the night before.

"Bitch" Jay swore, cursing and trying to roll away and get to her feet despite the pain. But Vicky ignored her, pushing herself up and jay down in the same motion, the adrenalin leaving her breathless and with her heart pounding in her throat, but focused and clear.

It was only then that she turned to face the woman at the door, and had to lock her knee's to stay on her feet.

Christina stood in Henry's doorway, boldly holding Mike by the throat up in front of her as a shield.

But Jay's dagger, thrown –like before, on instinct and impulse—as soon as Christina spoke was embedded in the wall to their left. To the hilt, Vicky noticed. If she hadn't jumped Jay it would be in Mike's heart right now, and the thought made her dizzy.

"Thank you," Christina said, pleasantly. "That is getting a little old, and really, blades aren't anyway to greet a guest."

She walked into the room, pushing Mike in front of her, her strength nearly holding his feet off the floor.

"Vic, get outta here," Mike choked the moment they were clear of the door. He had blood running down his neck, staining his shirt collar and tie. A cold fury settled in Vicky when she realized Christina must have bitten him on the way over.

"You bitch," she bit out, echoing Jay's sentiment, knowing that the girl had meant it for both her and Christina.

"What good houseguest doesn't bring a gift along to a party?" Christina said, all wide eyed innocence. "And surely you don't begrudge me a little taste, you who've done the same for Henry time and again."

Mike stirred, twisting in her grip and Christina shook him, her focus shifting as she raised him up off the floor a little more.

Vicky saw her chance as Christina's eyes left hers, Henry's sword was just a few feet on the wall behind her. If she could only get to it before Christina noticed...

"Try it and I'll break his neck," Christina said conversationally, still not looking at her but watching Mike's face turn from pink to a plum purple.

"Okay," Vicky turned around slowly, holding up her hands away from her body and forcing her muscles to relax into a standing position, not ready to run.

"Okay, I'm not moving, I'm not going anywhere, you're in control, just tell me what you want." Now look who's resorting back to basic training she thought remembering her words to Mike last time Christina had shown up, when their roles had been reversed.

_I don't think that Hostage Negotiation 101 is going to work here Mike._

"Oh I don't think you really want to know that," said a voice from the floor, and Jay emerged from behind one of Henry's chairs, using it to brace herself upright. She grimaced, but forced herself into a standing position, one hand splayed over the reddening splotch on her stomach and flashed Vicky a macabre grin.

"And why not?" Christina asked, seeming bored with the distraction. "Isn't it the duty of every good hostess to know what her guest wants? To provide it before they even know it themselves?"

Vicky was beginning to feel like she was in the middle of some mad hatter tea party where politeness and good manners being observed and criticized in murder and mayhem. It wouldn't surprise her if they began discussing the best place to display the severed heads to their best advantage next.

"I don't really think that Vicky's about to impale herself on that sword just to suit your fancy and get the Best Hostess 2008 award."

Vicky held her breath and looked over at Jay from the corner of her eyes. She knew that Christina wanted her dead, but to have her death talked about so openly, and plainly and while she was still here and alive was making it seem more real. Like a foregone conclusion instead of one --small--possibility.

She was beginning to wish that they'd just get on with it, instead of continuing this verbal sparring. At least Christina would have to let go of Mike to come after her and one of them might get out of this.

But it was buying them time...maybe if she could keep Christina and Jay talking it would kill enough time for Henry to have fed and come back at full strength. She knew that she couldn't take either of them on her own, and Jay seemed to be switching sides as it pleased her—Vicky couldn't count on her help. Fine, she thought, if this is how you want to play it.

"No, come on!" she said, "You want me dead, I might at least know why right? Aren't I entitled to that much?"

"You don't need to know why," Christina snarled. "Because it isn't any of your business."

And there it was. Suddenly Vicky knew why it was that Christina hated her so much that she'd risked her life three times now to kill her. It wasn't her business. It really was that simple. Vicky had been getting involved with something that wasn't her business, or should she say _**Someone**_ that wasn't hers. And Christina was jealous. Pure and simple it was almost the oldest story in the book and Vicky almost laughed out loud at how stupid she'd been not to see it.

"Henry," she breathed, and saw the confirmation in the way Christina's eyes sparked and she tightened her grip on Mike, nails digging into his flesh. But Vicky forced herself to stay cool and relaxed, not to look at Mike. Christina had brought him here to hurt her with, knowing that she cared for both of them but that Mike was the only one who was vulnerable enough for her to get to. She couldn't show that it was working, that Mike was distracting her otherwise her plan wouldn't have a hope of succeeding. Christina couldn't know that she'd happily trade her life for Mike's.

"It's all about Henry. That's what this is all about isn't it? You're jealous of Henry and Me, of our relationship." She used her voice to insinuate something between them that had never been, keeping a smile on her face while a crack formed somewhere in her chest at what she must be doing to Mike. "You know that he and I share something that you never could, we're partners in every way, he trusts me like he could never trust you. And that's why you have to kill me," she paused. "Because I'm a threat to you. God, it must just gall you knowing that a little powerless mortal like me could be something to Henry that you couldn't, could be a threat to you." Vicky forced herself to laugh knowing that it would only enrage Christina more.

"He hasn't had you yet." Christina said, a bite to her words as if they were forced out against her will and Vicky could hear the click of her teeth on the syllables. "He'll forget about you in a century or two. I have that time to wait for him, to bring him back to me," she looked almost wistful now as she taunted Vicky, voicing Vicky's secret fear out loud, everything--almost everything—that held her back every time she wanted to say yes to Henry.

"He'll forget about you," she repeated, "We're meant to be together. But you had to come along and screw up all my hard work, everything I've done to make him _see_ it, it's all _nothing _now!" she seemed to have almost forgotten Mike, hanging from her grip as she gestured around the room.

"It's about Henry," Vicky said, gaining confidence as she spoke, an idea forming with the words almost making itself voiced through her. "All of it...the threats last time, conveniently being in Toronto for a photo shoot...oh god... All of it?" the last came out a question even though she already knew the truth her mind raised the tone at the end in hopes that Christina would deny it. But she was already too far gone into her fantasy to listen.

"Vicky..." a voice warned, cautioned. Vicky looked over to her left, she had been so focused on Christina and Mike that she'd almost forgotten that they weren't alone. Jay.

"You knew," she said, her certainty confirmed by the sadness in Jay's eyes. It was the same look she'd given Henry on that hilltop when she'd told him that it was Christina who was changing the ghouls. But she hadn't told him why. And she heard Jay's voice in her head from earlier this evening:

"_Would you tell him if you knew that it would change him? Wound him? Leave him with scars to carry for the rest of his existence?"_

Oh god. She knew the truth now, finally, she knew. Vicky sagged against the couch, needing it's support, surprised that Jay could keep standing, keep moving with the knowledge of what Christina had done. She tried to find someway to internalize it and keep going, to file it away to try and make sense of later, but the weight of it was crushing her.

She looked up and opened her eyes when she heard the laughter, maniacal, deranged, insane laughter.

"He called you his Future," Christina said, "But you can't be his future if you're dead."

--

This is it, Vicky thought. After all those times that I cheated death; as a cop, Asteroth, zombies and bug demons, fate has finally caught up with me. There's no way out. She was no match for Christina, she didn't even know if anyone, even Henry was, but she still had one last hope, one last plan that might at least make something good come out of this.

"You want to be his future?" she said, pulling all her courage and strength behind the words, all her love. "Come get it."

Everything seemed to explode with those words, as if the world was poised on its axis waiting for its cue to tilt and send everything hurtling into motion, fast and furious at being delayed.

Vicky saw Christina move, angered beyond all endurance and turning all that hate and anger against the one thing that stood between her and what she believed was her destiny, her happiness: Vicky.

And Vicky smiled, knowing that it was too late, that there was nothing she could do and was about to be ripped apart by Christina's claws and teeth, she smiled, because it had worked. While all of Christina's focused hate had narrowed her vision to Vicky, Vicky's vision had tunneled to one thing in that whole apartment—and she didn't even mind not being able to see anything else for once.

Her focus was on Mike.

She watched as Christina flung him like a disguarded toy against the wall and came for her. She heard the sickening crunch of bones breaking when he hit and fell to the floor. But Christina had thrown him **and then** she'd heard the crunch, and she held onto that knowledge as she watched Christina blur with speed and rush towards her. She, Vicky had managed to get her so enraged that Christina had forgotten about Mike, about using him against Vicky, about the threat of killing him to force her compliance.

It wasn't much, she knew that... it wasn't killing Christina and stopping her from doing more evil in the world, it wasn't avenging all the deaths she'd caused or saving Mike or Henry, but it was all she could do. And maybe, just maybe, it might be enough. If everything went just right and someone was watching from above maybe it might be the beginning of more then 'just enough'. Maybe Christina would forget about Mike after...and Henry would kill Christina when he got back and saw...what had happened, maybe Henry had loved her that much. And he'd fix Jay's wounds again because that was what she would wanted...And everyone would be safe, because Asteroth would no longer have a doorway into this world.

Surely it wasn't too presumptuous to think her death could be worth that much?

She felt the first strike, claws gouging through flesh, skin and muscle to scrape across bone and realized that this wasn't going to be fast and easy after all. One downside of goading an insane vampire into a frenzy was that they apparently liked to play with their food.

She smiled at her own witticism, thinking how it would be nice to be able to tell someone...that was if she was going to live to tell someone. Coreen would laugh, she knew.

The second blow knocked her backwards, more fist then claws and meant to stun her while Christina grabbed her hair and pulled her upright, her face only inches away, fangs ready.

"just a little nip..."

She really should have expected this, she chastised herself. Something that Jay had said about Christina and torture...she should have known it was going to be slow. She felt Christina's fangs, like twin ice picks driven into her skin and terror touched her soul as she felt the blood being pulled out of her.

With Henry it had almost been a good pain, the pain of release, bordering on pleasure, but this **hurt.** It was like fire, it literally burned...the only thing in her experience that was similar was the path of a bullet, hot searing metal moving through her flesh...it was surprising how alike they really were.

It took her a moment before she realized that the pain at her neck was gone. She'd thought it was the blessed numbness that came when you'd lost too much blood and your body was trying to not go into shock, but the burning pain in her shoulder and arm told her differently. She looked down, astonished to see a round hole in her arm. Someone had shot her!

Vicky looked around automatically trying to find the source of this more mundane danger and saw that Christina had let her go and was now facing Mike. Mike who stood, one arm twisted at an impossible angle, but the other holding a gun on Christina, who was bleeding from at least two shots.

"What is this?" Vicky managed to cough, "paypack?"

Mike laughed a little desperately, and Vicky realized how close he was to his breaking point.

"yeah, well, I thought it's only fair, you shot me after all."

"Stop." The one word, rich with power and persuasion cut through their camaraderie and held them still.

"I am growing tired of distractions," Christina said, looking down at the holes in her body and clothing as if they were nothing more then annoying insects.

Vicky tried to move, to stand, to find a weapon while Christina was away from her, but she couldn't make her body obey her. One part of her mind was just screaming: Move! But another part was already rationalizing through the new problem...Christina was Henry's maker, when he was still mortal, still alive, she had already been a vampire. She was older then him, faster and had power enough to do what he couldn't; vamp Vicky into complete obedience, and Mike at the same time.

God, Vicky thought, she'd never realized that one person could have that much power. And her one last flicker of hope died with that realization. She'd been lost as soon as Christina stepped in the room, but she'd believed that Mike might be able to get away, that Henry could stop Christina... it was all lost now.

"Well then you're really not going to like me, cause I've been a distraction my whole life,"

Vicky couldn't even move her head to see, but she knew Jay's voice from behind her, it rasped with emotion and Vicky's throat ached to hear it.

"See, my parents were distractions, my brother was a distraction and so am I. I guess you could say I was born to be a distraction. Which really makes us a perfect pair, don't you think?" Jay asked, something desperate in her tone. "You enjoy eliminating distractions from the world and here I am, practically the perfect, infinite distraction."

Christina watched her warily, moving as Jay moved circling the room like the moon circles the earth.

"I know you." Christina said tentative but confidence in the tone. "How do I know you?"

"It wouldn't be hard," Jay answered, "I've been tracking you for the better part of twelve years, always just one step behind, one town too late, one body waiting in the sun."

Christina hissed at that, claws curling into fists and just barely remembering not to close them. She was totally focused on Jay now, and Vicky realized how intimidating having a vampires entire focus on you could be. She'd thought that she had all of Christina's attention before, but now she realized just how wrong she had been, part of Christina's mind must have been caught up in her fantasy with Henry, because under this unrelenting scrutiny Vicky didn't know how Jay could find the will to breathe.

"**You.**" Christina hissed. "You killed them."

"I just finished what you started. See, I remembered how much you like fire. And the wonderful thing about fire is that it leaves nothing behind, it burns everything in its path so there's nothing left. No one would even notice."

That seemed to touch her, strike right into the core of Christina and shatter her, but as Vicky watched that glazed look overtook her face again as Christina pushed away knowledge that didn't mesh with her purpose.

"He'll notice now, this time he has to. And she won't be here to get in the way again. And neither will you!"

Christina jumped, the strength she'd been coiling within herself suddenly exploding like a spring and Vicky found herself free to move as all of Christina's power sought another target: Jay.

"Watch out!" Vicky yelled, as magic swirled and caught fire in the air and Christina's claws sent blood flying.


	30. Chapter 30

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 30

--

Henry pushed himself farther, faster...he couldn't be too late. He'd been stupid thinking that Christina would leave just because he'd threatened her, that it would be over that easily. That she could ever accept his dominion here as overriding hers.

And now Vicky was alone with both of them. A witch who was more powerful then anything he had ever believed possible and Christina, one of the oldest vampires, his sire...both wanting her dead as a pawn in this game they were trying to play with Henry.

He couldn't say how he was certain that Christina was with them, possibly some remnant of their bond, maker to child in the blood they shared, but he would bet however many years were left to him that Christina was there. And he would condemn his soul to hell for eternity if it would keep Vicky alive until he got there.

Damn the instinct that pushed him to hunt so far from his home.

He felt the last shreds of his torn shirt fall rip away from his skin as he pushed himself ever faster into the night, feeling the wind whip and lash at his bare shoulders.

His feet barely touched the rooftops but finally his building came into view. He slowed slightly, imperceptibly, sending out his senses into the night, looking for clues as to what might await him inside.

There was blood on the wind. And at least some of it was Vicky's.

He dropped down, diving off the roof, uncaring of who may be watching from below. Turning at the last second he used his strength to propel himself forwards instead of down and **through** the glass windows into his apartment

And into chaos.

--

Light blazed and caught, sparkling on the falling glass as he fell to the ground, palms and feet bleeding from the diamond like shards.

The glass had been tinted and bullet proof.

It took him only a moment to size up the situation, lit up in horrific detail for him in flashes of magical light like tableau's set up for his amusement;

Vicky, crouched on the floor, blood soaking one arm covering her eyes blinded by the flare of magic and power, yet still trying to find a weapon to help.

Mike, crawling towards Vicky, his gun in one hand the other hopelessly twisted out of shape and broken, but determined.

He forced himself to move to the center of the room, even though the heat and light from Jay's magic burned even from this distance and an acrid smell stung his nose. He could see it even from where he stood, the blood soaking the two people at the center of it all, pooling on the floor and beneath his feet. It might have been his imagination but Jay's magic even seemed tinged with red as trails formed around Christina then broke apart when she slashed out at Jay, claws opening old wounds, only to materialize behind her and strike again.

It was almost too bright too look at, the brilliance of the colours, the dance of power and bodies mesmerizing. Strike-move-retreat-strike again. Beautiful and deadly.

But Jay was loosing. Even Henry could see it. Christina was faster, stronger, older. And even as he thought it, Christina got a hold on Jay's neck, darting in with a speed that --while slowed from her own wounds--was still unmatched and tossed her past Henry where she landed, cracking another window into a spiderweb of glass.

Christina was bleeding, a score of magical burns and what looked like bullet holes could be seen through her clothing as she walked towards him.

Henry automatically dropped into a fighting stance, the primal need to kill this invader into his territory overriding almost everything else.

"I thought last time I saw you that I told you it would be the last time."

"You did," Christina said, sliding ever closer to him, trying to work her way past him and to where Jay—and Vicky were near the window.

"But I missed you Henry," she smiled. "Besides, I thought you might be in danger, this little witch leaves quite the trail of death and destruction behind her. I didn't want you to be the next vampire she stakes out in the sun."

Henry didn't move, didn't relax his position between Vicky and Christina, but he didn't attack either. Jay's motives had been suspect from the beginning. Showing up right when ghouls began targeting the city with a story about Christina being responsible. It was almost too perfect...and she'd threatened Vicky...

A cough from behind him split his attention. "It's not me you've got to worry about," Jay said, "It's not as if I can turn someone into a ghoul after all."

"And why not?" Christina said, never missing a beat and slowly but surely continuing to slide past Henry's guard. Soon he'd have to choose; either turn and face her directly or leave his side—and Vicky, unguarded. "You're obviously a powerful witch, who knows the limits of what you can do? Power corrupts after all...and exactly whose word are we taking it on that only a vampire can make a ghoul?"

Christina's logic had a horrible certainty behind it. There was nothing to collaborate Jay's story but jay herself, and she had time and time again refused to explain any of her motives or reasons to Henry. It could just as easily have been her all along...and Henry had seen with his own eyes that he couldn't trust either of them near Vicky.

Last time Christina had been in town he'd barely been in time to stop her from tearing Vicky's throat out, and only earlier this week Jay had been holding Vicky at knifepoint as a pawn, trying to use her to get information out of Henry.

"Henry!" Vicky said, getting to her feet and moving to his right, completing the triangle between him and Christina. If he moved now it would leave Vicky vulnerable to either Christina in front of her or Jay behind.

"Don't listen to her! She's only trying to confuse things, it's been her all along!"

"Henry," Christina sighed, moving forward, her arms held out placating and in peace but Henry moved to intercept her before she could get too close.

"We've known each other for a long time, experienced and been through things together that they could never understand. Yes, at times our nature has driven us to act like rivals, but underneath it all you must still feel something between us, a bond that tells you that I would never choose another over you. Always be there for you if something was threatening you."

She moved closer and this time Henry didn't move to intercept her. Her words rung true, struck a chord within him that made him pause to consider.

"This witch on the other hand, a stranger and powerful dark magic user has lied to you, deceived you. Who knows what she can do with all that power? And she's been here, alone with your friends all day, she's had time to ensorcelled them to her side." Christina's voice dropped low, the resonance soothing almost a persuasion to listen, relax and not fight. Vicky had to force herself to remember what had really happened, what she'd learned about Christina's true nature and what she'd done.

"That's crap!" Vicky spat out, her voice sounding grating and ugly after Christina's pure tones. "Henry, it's all her, all along-she attacked me before you came, had Mike by the throat! Jay saved us, she's on our side! Please listen to me."

Henry paused in indecision. Vicky wouldn't lie to him, but if she was under the witch's spell then she could believe that she was telling the truth even if it was a fabrication of dark magic implanted into her memories.

"She's playing on your fear and hatred of dark magic Henry, I'd know if I was under a spell!" Vicky pushed, desperate now that Henry seemed to be sliding away from her with Christina's every word.

"Really?" Christina said, something like sad tolerance for a particularly stupid creature entering her tone. "Have you lost time tonight? Been in the middle of something and suddenly it's hours later with no explanation?"

Vicky stopped breathing, one hand automatically touching her throat although she didn't know why. She was remembering just before sunset, she'd been alone with Jay...

"_How long was I asleep for?" and Jay's voice answering_

"_Not long, Almost an hour, maybe less."_

How could she know? Maybe everything that she believed had happened with Christina since had been made up, not real, something Jay created for her to buy into and sell back to Henry. To force him to trust her and turn on Christina...wasn't that Jay's plan all along?

"_It's what he needs to know to kill Christina"...plotting murder in the dark of night._

"See?" Christina said, her voice sad but understanding. "You can't really know, can you?"

She was nearly even with Henry now, so close...just a little more...

"No," Mike said clearly, getting to his feet beyond Vicky. "That's a real nice story, but you're forgetting one thing. I haven't been alone with Jay, she had no chance to Sabrina me onto her side, and I'm positive that you jumped me, dragged me back here to use against Vicky and then nearly killed her before Jay intervened. And I've got the hickies to prove it" he pulled down his collar, revealing small twin puncture marks.

A vampire bite.

Christina hissed in frustration, striking at Henry before he could gather himself to move—a non lethal blow that none the less sent him staggering back...away from Vicky.

"Once you're gone, he'll understand it was all necessary. He'll see," Christina ranted, a glitter in her eyes showing how far from sane she really was.

Vicky threw herself sideways, trying to evade Christina but she was yanked back, hands like steel bars around her arm pulling her back and within reach of Christina's fangs. Vicky felt breath brush her neck briefly, wondering why the sensation was so familiar before an acid burn scorched her skin making Christina recoil.

"Did anyone ever tell you to finish the main course before starting on dessert?" Jay said, a right hook to make Vicky proud sending Christina flying back—and Vicky with her.

Christina's grip was immovable, locking them together and now that she had a hold of Vicky, she wasn't letting go until one of them was dead.

Christina turned pulling Vicky in front of her, effectively preventing Jay from using any magic to fight her without frying Vicky too.

Jay darted in as Christina's fangs scraped Vicky skin again a second time, a knife opening a shallow cut in Vicky's side before embedding deep in Christina's ribcage, magic trailing in its wake like a solar flare.

Christina cursed in pain as it began to burn through skin and muscle, it was time to deal with this particular distraction once and for all. She pulled Vicky close, but left an opening on her right side, as if the knife prevented her from pulling her guard in. Jay could either go for the trap and attack from that side, or watch as she ripped Vicky's throat out. Win-win for her, either way she was one less annoying woman between her and Henry.

Fangs touched Vicky's neck a third time in as many minutes, their points needle sharp and like ice slowly burrowing into her skin. Only to be replaced by fire as jay stepped inside Christina's guard on her right side, using magic as a wall to break her and Vicky apart.

Vicky felt Christina's grip on her arm change, reverse faster then she could blink and push her away using her other hand, now free to strike out at Jay who was within easy reach. Her nails slashed out, tracing the lines of the scars on Jay's throat almost identically, colouring them from white to bright red as the blood began to flow in waves.

Christina turned, triumphantly back to Vicky, ready to finish with her and eliminate everything that stood between her destiny and Henry, only to find herself held immobile by Henry's hand on her chest.

Her own hands were slowly going numb and she struggled to maintain her grip on Vicky's arm. She has to die, she thought, it's the only way for us to be together, I can't let go...but her hand wouldn't listen and slowly her hold loosened and became lax and Vicky slipped free.

She looked up and met Henry's eyes, saw the sadness there but the resolve too.

"It was the only way we could be together Henry," Christina mouthed, trying to get enough air around the obstruction that seemed to have lodged in her chest at being this close to him again. "You understand that, don't you? All of it...it was all for you."

"Yes," Henry said, closing his eyes. "it was the only way..." and he pulled his hand from her chest, his fingers wrapped around her heart.


	31. Chapter 31

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 31

--

Henry turned away from Christina's body where it lay, broken on the floor before him. He heard Vicky speak his name but it was like she was far away, or maybe he was, nothing was clear and he reached for focus, for discipline, but it wouldn't come.

He thought that the last few hours would haunt his mind, his thoughts circling and returning to what had happened but oddly enough, what he remembered was long ago, when he was newly turned and on his own, the primal need for space and a private territory had driven him from Christina in the first 100 years. He had been in middle Europe somewhere, wandering, truly lost and homeless for too little time had passed for him to return to England or France but not wanting to brave the challenges and risk of sea travel to the new world. He had heard rumors about vampires for the first time, he always had theoretically known that there must be others of his kind, Christina had made him and someone must have made her and so and so on down the years, but as of yet he had encountered none. They said that to kill a vampires' sire; the vampire who turned them would destroy all others who had been made by that vampire, possibly even save those newly turned, restore their soul. Drive out the taint of the demon. Ridiculous, he had believed.

Was that what he was feeling now? a part of his mind asked. For surely something was dying within him. He thought that all bonds to Christina had been broken when she had driven him away from her that night long ago in Prague, nearly killing him as he refused again and again to leave, until the sun rose and drove him underground.

Christina was dead. And he was more alone then he had felt in nearly four centuries. And he didn't even know why.

"Henry!" Vicky said again, the urgency in her tone finally reaching through to him as she grabbed his arm and he turned sightless eyes towards her.

"It's Jay" Vicky said, for what he was sure was not the first time, and Henry dragged his eyes away from her, forcing them to focus to look beyond where Christina lay and see Jay, leaning against the half broken window of his apartment, Mike—of all people, trying valiantly to stay the flow of blood from a throat that was almost ripped open.

"There isn't much time," he said, moving away from Vicky like a sleepwalker. His voice sounded as if it came from some other source to his ears.

Vicky sighed in relief, still clutching his arm. "You can save her then? Like, like you did before?"

"No," he said it bluntly, not even trying to soften the blow that it would be. He had traded a lifetime as a prince, a king, for centuries of a life defined in blood and death. All for love. He knew the inner workings of death so intimately, had seen it so many times that it seemed like he had known the outcome of this tale from long ago, from the moment he had first broken through that glass that now lay crushed beneath Jay, from the moment he had first seen her if he were to look back far enough. There had been no other way.

He turned, looking at Vicky and really seeing her for the first time. "No, but there's time to get answers."

--

Her mind was slipping. She knew that even though she had no control over it anymore. It was the pain, she knew. There hadn't been this much pain since she'd been six years old...and the blood...the smell of death and ash in the air. They said that smell was the best of all the senses for evoking memory, better then sight or taste. They were right, whoever they were.

She was too tired to fight anymore, it seemed like she'd been fighting for her whole life--at least all of it that she let herself remember. But that was okay, because she didn't have to fight anymore. She couldn't remember the reason why, but everything was going to be alright now, she could rest.

And the pain? Well, she could deal with pain. It had been the one constant in her life, a reminder, of long ago...daisy's in the sun, piled high in a glass vase that sparkled and threw rainbows, more daisy's this time on top of someone's head, blonde hair blowing in the breeze and soft brown eyes...

No! she pulled herself awake, the blood loss making her sick and dizzy, pushing at the hands that held her throat.

"It's okay!" a voice said, male, deep somewhere above her. "You're going to be okay, just calm down...Henry's coming now and everything will be alright!" Mike could barely believe that he'd just spoken those words, whoever had said that he'd be pinning all his hopes on a vampire...

Jay smiled, a sad, knowing smile. Let him think that, let him keep believing for as long as possible. She knew the truth. And as she looked up and met Henry's eyes above her as he knelt down, she knew that he knew too.

She'd always meant to tell him in the end, always thought that there would be no way that he would ever be able to kill Christina without knowing, and if she were honest, because he deserved to suffer; all of his kind did. But she was almost glad that she couldn't speak, that her wounds in her throat and the swelling prevented sounds and she couldn't tell him. He was a vampire, which was evil, but she wanted to spare him this if she could.

But then the distant look in his eyes changed into determination and she felt another hand on her throat, harsher and more insistent then the previous one, pulling her up, forcing her to stand on legs that were numb sticks and pushing her back against broken glass.

"I need to know." He said. Four words that encompassed a world, a lifetime of grief if he only knew what he was asking. More then one lifetime for him.

She shook her head, feeling it slide easily within his grasp, slick with her blood.

"Henry! What the hell! Let her go!" Mike had gotten to his feet now and was pulling on Henry's arm, immovable as iron rooted to the floor.

"I need to know."

"Henry, she's dying for Christ sake! Let her be!"

"I need to know damn it!" He screamed it, the anger and pain and sorrow overwhelming him, needing an outlet and finding it in this girl who was denying him the one thing that might ease the pain and the man who was defending her. "I need to know why Christina had to die! I killed her! I was willing to give up the world, my life for love of her and she became someone who I had to kill and I have to know why!"

Jay waited silently, stonily, as if she could wait until the world ended and still would not speak.

"Fuck, Henry, she couldn't tell you even if she wanted to! Look at her throat, how is she supposed to speak like that?" Mike pulled on his arm again, "Let her down."

"No."

"Henry," a voice from behind him, soft with sympathy and sorrow. Vicky.

"I have to know!" he said, and it was those four little words that finally broke Jay. She met his eyes and saw a crack in his façade, his breathing was ragged and coming in gasps and tears formed in his eyes.

He loved her, she thought. He really loved her. For centuries they were together, even afterwards there was still a tie, a blood bond between them. He deserved to know why he had killed her.

She nodded, watching him not relax, not sigh in relief but brace, as if for a blow.

She held out her hand, weak and trembling, coated with blood and bits of glass but still dancing with magic that zigzaged across her palm making the glass light up like prisms. Henry reached out and took her hand and the world exploded around him.

--

'_It's alright' Jay said, and Henry looked up from where he was crouching on dewy grass in a bright field. _

'_I'm sorry, it was the only way. I couldn't Tell you, so I had to show you.' she sighed, turning away and scanning the horizon, pulling him to his feet as she spoke._

'_Maybe it is better this way after all...'_

'_Where are we?' he asked, looking around and taking in the green field, sun shining above him and himself not bursting into flames. _

'_My memory,' she answered simply. 'Forgive me, but I've never done this before so I don't exactly know how this works. But you did want to know about Christina and I guess we start here.'_

'_You guess?' Henry asked, skeptically. 'what happens if your guesses run out?'_

'_Then I guess' –she teased him with the words—'that we'd be in trouble then.'_

_Jay sighed, flopping down into the grass that he had so recently vacated and stretching back, the sun turning her hair to auburn with gold highlights and gracing her skin with a tanned glow. She looked so much freer and at ease then Henry had ever remembered seeing her. Almost young. _

'_Look, I don't know how to direct what's going on. I can try and control it, but it might not work that well. And for now this is where we start.'_

'_Why here?'_

'_Because this is where I met Christina.'_

_As if something had been waiting for that admission, that offering of herself, and who knows maybe it had, it was her memory after all that they were delving into, voices suddenly reached him from over the hill. Loud and high voices of children calling and playing, running up and cresting over the top of the hill only to fling themselves over and start rolling down the side, breathlessly. _

"_I beat you Davie! I did! I did!" a young girl called off to their left. _

_A sturdy boy of perhaps seven or eight sat up from amidst a stand of beech trees. He'd rolled off course right into the center of them._

"_Only because of these trees! It doesn't count, like when games are called off on 'cause 'a rain."_

"_But I did! I did beat you!" the girl said, teary now and clutching a bunch of daisy's in a fist gone white with tension._

_Henry looked down amazed at Jay only to find her frozen in the grass beside him. She'd sat up at the first sound of voices, the smell of crushed grass fresh in his nose from when she'd been lying down almost dozing, but now she was almost entranced._

'_Who are they?' he asked, kneeling down and touching her hand with his free one. The other was still firmly held in her grip._

_She swallowed before answering. 'That's my older brother David..."_

_And then the little girl would be you, Henry finished the unsaid thought. Turning and watching with more interest. _

"_Fine," the boy relented as the girls tears threatened to overflow, "You beat me Jaydyth...Today. But I can still win a race home!" and he was off running up the hill again._

"_No fair!" the girl who was a younger Jay yelled. "You didn't say Go!" but she'd already dropped the crushed bouquet and was racing after him._

_The world blurred around them suddenly, colours and lights running together like a water colour painting that had been left in the rain, and when Henry could see again he was standing in the corner of a dark room at night, with Jay clutching his hand. Her palm was wet and her grip stiff and when he turned to look at her there was a guarded look in her eyes that he recognized that hadn't been there before. She looked...haunted._

'_What's wrong? he whispered. He didn't know why he was whispering, the memory-people from before hadn't seemed to hear or see them, but somehow he didn't want to break the silence of the night here. _

'_I just...I didn't know it would bring us back this far' her hand was trembling in his and he had never seen her afraid, not once but he would have sworn that what kept her glancing into dark corners and jumping at small noises was fear. Terror actually._

'_What's going to happen?' he asked._

'_Look,' she said, pointing to where a glow had begun underneath the door. _

_The door burst open and Henry's senses were assailed with smoke and heat...and blood. Davie rushed into the room, his hand burnt and pulled the covers off of a sleeping Jaydyth, one hand over her mouth to keep her from crying out as she woke. _

"_Come on!" he said, urgency making his voice high and shrill. "Quiet like a mouse and quick!"_

_Henry watched as the child who was, who would be Jay nodded and climbed out of bed, helping ineffectually as her brother pushed back the bed and opened a crawl space underneath. He lowered his sister in and then jumped, pulling the door closed behind them._

_They waited but not for long. The door was kicked open a second time, this time by a man, older and stronger with dark curly hair and a chiseled face who walked the room searching in the all the corners and the closet, pulling on the window that didn't budge. When he moved past Henry—still unseen --he noticed that the man had fangs curling into his lip. A vampire. _

_The children had no hopes of hiding from a vampire. He could sniff them out as surely as a bloodhound and while Henry had mocked Vicky's comparison between the two species in the past, it was accurate, at least in some senses. A vampires scenting of blood was inescapable._

_They were dragged, kicking, screaming and crying from their hiding space and into the living room and Henry and Jay were dragged along with them. Christina waited there and in what happened next Henry finally learned why Jay hated Christina with the very depths of her being, because he was taught to hate her too._

_He didn't know if it was hours of minutes or days that followed. But he watched as a woman with golden hair was bled out, then given blood and forced to live again, only to be set on fire alive at the end. He watched as a man, tall and looking like a dark knight fought, only to be tied down and made to watch as his children were fed off of like animals, before he was finally cut into pieces and then thrown on top of the smoldering embers of what had been his wife. And he watched as Jaydyth and her brother Davie were made to watch it all, kept alive to watch it all, only to be drained nearly dry and left to the fire because dawn was approaching and Christina was finished with her message here. _

_The man dropped the boy to the floor, his wounds nearly bloodless from his feeding and smiled at Christina, only to look down in astonishment when a metal poker from the fireplace thrust out the front of his chest._

_Straight through the heart, Henry thought. Clean blow. _

_Christina screamed and to Henry's ears it sounded like his name and for a moment he was afraid that they could see him, standing here holding jay's hand who stood like a statue beside him, unmoving and almost unbreathing. _

_But it wasn't over yet, Christina had been feeding off jaydyth when the little girl had sent the poker flying across the room, her first directed use of magic, a blind attempt to stop the man from hurting her brother, and had felt the power surge. She ripped, pulling skin and nearly tearing out Jay's throat in her anger before dropping her and moving to the other vampire. The vampire that Christina must have turned to be able to stay so close to him, to hunt and travel with. _

_He was dead. That was clear enough even to Henry, the man's skin going grey and sinking in on itself already. Christina knelt and touched him, once, before turning back the little girl. She screamed and ranted, punctuating the storm of her anger with kicks and bites that drew yet more blood, but Henry couldn't hear her words. Didn't in fact, want to know what she said. He just wanted it to be over. _

_But then she leaned down and whispered in the girls ear, and Henry, because he was a part of Jay's memory, heard her voice as if she stood right beside him, even felt her breath, hot with the blood stolen from jay's family. _

"_You think that you're going to die that easily?" Christina whispered. "You're going to suffer first, and again, and again and again before I let you burn."_

_And Henry watched as she opened up her own wrist blood spilling down onto the floor and tried to force jaydyth to drink. But the girl fought, as if even young and innocent, she knew what drinking that would mean and so again, in desperation, she turned to magic. Sparks caught and flared behind the struggling vampire and child, blazing up in an instant fed by Jay's terror and need but not within her control. It caught the ceiling and a bit broke off, tumbling down and alighting Christina's hair. She threw the child away from her, towards the blaze, beating her hair to stop the spreading fire and with a final snarl abandoned the house to the flames. _

_Henry struggled to see through the haze of smoke and fire, but his eyes were burning with tears and everything blurred together, light streaking in his vision. He blinked and again, trying to clear his eyes only to realize that it wasn't just him. They were moving again, traveling to another memory._

_He caught glimpses of other men, alleys and impressions of pain and cold and hunger but they blurred into each other. A man came clear, middle age with silvering hair at the temples, fire in his eyes and fangs as he leaned over them, more pain and a voice saying "again!" _

_The blurring continued and Henry began to be sway, there was no anchor, no fixed point on which to hold his gaze and steady himself. Just when he thought he couldn't hold out any longer the world slowed and came into focus again._

_There was a rooftop, cold and night, the snow falling around them and crunching under their footsteps. Their breath hung in clouds around their faces, but they were alone._

'_You survived the fire,' he said._

'_Apparently.' Jay's answer was cold, stern, almost like the Jay he remembered and so unlike that carefree child he'd glimpsed in her memories. _

'_How?'_

'_The crawlspace.' Brief and to the point her monosyllabic answers didn't open the door for further questions but Henry pushed anyways._

'_I saw that crawlspace. It was directly under the floor, maybe five feet deep in all. A mortal, especially not a child, wounded and nearly dead from blood loss, could never survive that fire. Even underground.'_

_And jay turned and looked at him, full on in the moonlight and her eyes glinted oddly, reflecting the light._

'_And who says that I'm mortal?' she asked, smiling at him, a full smile that showed lips large and red, straight white teeth... and long slightly pointed canines. _


	32. Chapter 32

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt

Blood Ties Blood Bond pt. 32

_Henry reeled back, nearly pulling his hand out of her grip before she tightened her hold, nails gouging into his skin and connecting them again. _

'_You're not a vampire.' He stated it, making it truth. 'Vicky's seen you in the sun, you didn't burn.'_

'_No, I'm not a vampire,' she confirmed._

'_But then...?' his mind went back remember another conversation, Jay explaining how vampires used their blood to torture...to make ghouls they could kill over and over again...like Christina had done with her mother._

'_Ghouls don't age, they don't heal,' she said as if reading his thoughts, and motioned to the scars clearly visible that looked like spidersilk on her arms and neck in the moonlight._

'_And I could walk in the sun, early morning or dusk at least until I did the spell that saved your friend that night. And I could walk in high noon before this night' Jay said, drawing Henry's attention back to the rooftop they stood on and the scene—the memory—unfolding in front of them._

_A vampire stood before them, newly turned and drunk on his power and alike enough to Henry to be his brother. He was goading jay, trying to make her make a mistake, had lured her up here with some false impression and Jay, knowing exactly what he was had let him. _

_They fought, Jay's technique perfect, poetry in motion and Henry hadn't seen fighting an art at this level since longswords and daggers. The vampire was going to lose, even he seemed to realize almost at once and began to fight with desperation to get away. Jay blocked every attempt at the stairs the fire escape, even the edge of the roof, before pinning him, a blade finally appearing in her hands blazing with magic that would eat through his heart. _

"_She'll come after you!" the vampire yelled, one last attempt to scare her into letting him go. Pathetic and desperate. "Christina will kill you if you hurt me! We're meant to be together forever! She'll hunt you down and never stop unless you let me go!"_

"_That's what I'm counting on," Jay said and struck._

_The scene blurred again and again, countless faces replacing the vampire's as he was re-made tens of times in multiple different men, all with dark wavy hair and deep eyes. Ghouls came too, blurring in between, so many that Henry couldn't keep count, only knowing that Christina had made them all. All of them, every one, in an attempt to recreate what she'd had with Henry that first time. And when she realized that it was impossible then she'd done it to get his attention, to try and draw him back into her life. All these deaths, all the suffering, because of him. _

_Augustus had been right then, Jay's family were vampire hunters and guardians. They must have discovered that Christina had lost her mind, was trying to recreate Henry over and over again in innocent victims and had gone after her. And Christina had retaliated. Killing them all, sending a message that she couldn't be stopped, that she would continue changing mortals, killing as she wished...Henry saw their faces paraded in front of him in Jay's memory, their names...their deaths._

_It slowed again, the sand and salt spray of the last flash replaced slowly with dark green and brown and the smell of wood and exhaust and cooking hot dogs. Henry looked around and was astonished to find that he recognized where they were. It was Queen's Park, the corner nearest to his building and the night was warm with just a hint of coolness in the air that suggested fall was closer then it seemed. _

_He saw Jay first, standing at the street corner, waiting to cross into the park. She chaffed her hands together as if cold, her posture for all the world like a distracted self absorbed student, but her eyes were focused and Henry noted a few sparks that flew from her fingers crossing. She started out across the street and he noticed himself in her memory follow her, a slight smile on his face when he saw her head towards them into the park and away from the lighted streets._

_He knew what Jay thought of him, of all vampires, without even having to look back at her where he still gripped her hand. He'd seen it in her memories, the hatred, the disgust begun and then fuelled from that initial contact with Christina and her twisted mind. They were soulless murders in her eyes, evil. Preying on people, selflessly squandering the lives they given up their souls for and using their time to cause pain, suffering. Irredeemable. _

'_I'm not a vampire,' she said, as a memory of herself lead Henry deeper into the park. 'I'm not a ghoul, I'm not dead and not quite alive. Magic fuels the change, the more I use the less human I become...the less I can stand the sun, food, drink. That last spell with your friend was just the final nudge that took the sunlight from my existence. But either way I'm damned. I need blood to survive now Henry, there's no turning back._

_I'm dying. I have been ever since that night when I was six years old and Christina killed them all and my childhood with them. I drank the spilled blood on the floor to stay alive, then crawled and hid in the earth until the fire burned itself out... __their__ blood must have been mixed in, and so I didn't die that night, but I haven't been completely mortal ever since. I've been given this time to find her and destroy her and now that she's dead I can finally stop." Jay sighed, looking out over the trees at the few stars that were visible through their canopy and the ambient light of the city in her memory. _

'_I don't know if when I die, I'll just die or I'll come back as...something else. But I can't take that chance,' She looked down at Henry clutching her hand and he noticed that it was bleeding, he felt shards of glass pressing into his skin, cutting him. Blood flowing between them like a bond._

'_It'll be nice to see the sun again,' she said and let go of his hand._

--

Henry staggered, the contact with jay broken so swiftly and completely it took him a moment to realize that he still retained his arm and it hadn't been snapped off, broken when their link was.

He looked around, seeing the familiar scene of his condo; black and chrome leather chairs, fashionable lighted screen separating off his studio... The world hadn't changed in the time he'd spend in jay's memories after all, only he had.

"Henry..." Vicky, stepped up behind him, her hand resting over one of his shoulder blades, offering comfort and support if he'd only turn around and accept it. So she knew then. He should have guessed it, she was too smart to have all the clues before her and not figure out the puzzle. It was one of the first things he'd loved about her, but right now it was also something he hated. How could she, knowing what she knew about Christina and these deaths and him, be offering _him_ comfort? He deserved none.

"Please...Vicky..." it hurt to say her name, his soul so laden with Christina's crimes he was sure his voice would tarnish the syllables.

"I just...please, just go."

He felt her hand drop behind him, his skin still burning from the contact as she moved away.

Vicky walked over to Mike, where he sat on the ground, Jay cradled in his lap, his good arm still futilely resting over her throat as if to stop the flow of her life out the wound, or covering what he couldn't bear to accept.

It was cold by the broken window, gusts of wind blowing snowflakes into the room and coating the floor in white, covering the blood and glass. It had become winter almost overnight and Vicky didn't even remember the end of summer.

"She...she doesn't have long," he said, when Vicky's shadow fell across them.

Vicky nodded, her throat closing with tears that threatened to choke her if she spoke.

Jay had saved them all. No one else could have stood against Christina, held her off and kept Vicky and Mike alive until Henry got back...Vicky had believed that there wasn't anyone alive who was a match for Christina, but she'd underestimated Jay again. And in the end, Jay had been on their side all along.

She knelt, reaching out to touch the girls hand...one last offering of gratitude, and farewell. Her eyelashes fluttered at the contact but didn't lift, and Vicky let her hand drop away.

Vicky stood up when she felt another shadow fall over them, colder even then the wind.

"Mike.." she said, hating to pull him away but knowing that tonight was not the night to deny Henry his privacy or test his limits.

Mike tried to stand, awkwardly trying to pick up the girl despite the twisted, broken angle of one arm.

"Give her to me and get out." The voice was harsh, brutal against his grief and Mike felt a cold rage settle in his gut.

"What? You haven't seen enough death in your five centuries Fitzroy? Need to get off on watching a girl who fought your battles for you die too?" He was standing between Henry and Jay, immovable and resolute. A line had been drawn and he refused to cross it again.

"She's one of us and you can't have her," he shouted. "I won't surrender her over to your sick games. How many humans do you need to have die for you? Her? Me? Coreen? Vicky? When is it enough?"

A cold hand closed about his throat but Mike had seen too much tonight and faced his own hard truths to be afraid of anything that Henry Fitzroy could do to him.

Power whispered in Henry's voice, trying to find it's way into Mike's mind and force his compliance but for once it was met with stony walls and a big 'Do Not Enter' sign,

"She deserves to die with her own kind, vampire." Mike said, deterred only slightly by the hand squeezing his throat. "The people who she fought to protect, not an undead bloodsucker."

Brave words and courage, but in the end not enough. Henry pushed Mike away, and he stumbled, nearly falling but Vicky rushed to catch and steady him.

"You don't know the first thing about her," Henry's voice was soft with leashed menace, but his movements were gentle, almost tender as be bent and lifted Jay into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

--

Mike started out after them, ready to break down the door and take on Vamp-boy all alone if he had to, when Vicky held him back.

"Vic," he said, staring down her hand where it held his arm, restraining him. "What are you doing?"

"Mike, there's something that you don't understand...about Jay and Henry...about what happened here tonight. It was only the end in a very long story that Henry just found out about...he needs some time."

"I don't give a shit," Mike said, angry. "That girl deserves better then to die with no one around but him."

"He needs to find some way to deal with everything before she dies, and we don't have any right to interfere."

Mike looked at Vicky as if he'd never seen her before, then his eyes closed and he shook off her hand.

"It's not all about Henry," he said and started towards the door, only to be blinded when it flung open, a storm of magic sizzling through the room before winking out, leaving only the memory of light behind.

--

Henry leaned back, counting the heartbeats as they slowed and quieted and finally stopped. It was all over now. God help him for everything he'd done. He knew that another wrong had no hopes of making it right but everything in him demanded that he act. And now he could only wait.

A slight movement, the beginnings of stirring and Henry felt himself breathe again, leaning close he watched as her eyes opened, going from sleep to complete awareness in an instant, knowing exactly where she was...and what had happened.

Jay pushed herself away from him, and back into the corner, almost hidden beneath the sink, one hand clutching the pipes for support as if she could will their strength into herself.

"What have you done?" she asked, her eyes going from unfocused horror to condemnation as she finally looked up at him.

"I couldn't let you die," Henry began, drained and tired he leaned against the opposite wall, with too little strength to go to her he gestured loosely in the air.

"Yes you could." Three words but spoken with the most bitter hate that Henry felt them like a lash.

"There's been too much death because of me...I couldn't sit by and do nothing while you died...after everything Christina did..."

"Everything **Christina** did?!" she laughed, short and bitter. "Christina may have been a monster, she may have killed my family, given me a walking death for twelve years, but she never stole that death! She never stole my soul!"

Jay pulled herself up, using the sink as support. "And you, rewriting the end to fit your conscience, your designs..." Magic swirled, blazing white in the confines of the small room before it broke through the door, opening the bathroom and bedroom to the gathering dawn. "You're just like her."

--

A knock on his door woke him late at night, or early in the morning depending on how one kept track of time. He groaned, lying on his back, one arm covering his eyes both cursing whoever had awoken him while at the same time hoping that the knock had only been part of a very vibrant dream and that the untimely visitor would vanish with the waking.

A second knock followed, hesitant and yet insistent. He sighed, rolling out of bed and stumbling down the hallway stifling a yawn and yet more curses.

"Coming," he called softly, unneeded as it was. The knocking had ceased when he'd gotten out of bed. As if his late night visitor could hear or see his movements through solid wood and plaster.

His hands fumbled on the double locks and the chain before opening the door a crack and peering into the dim space between the doors.

A girl stood on his doorstep, young but not really young, blood drying on what he could see of her clothes beneath the dark jacket and disheveled dark hair.

"I'm sorry," the words were spoken like a confession; a psalm offered into the night for forgiveness, peace…sanctuary. "I had no where else I could go, he'll be searching even now."

He wordlessly opened the door, allowing her entry before securing the locks behind him. He couldn't help but feel like he'd let death, in the guise of a young girl with dark hair and eyes into his house as he turned to face her.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I know how you feel about me, about all of this." A hand motioned aimlessly in the air. She still hadn't met his eyes, had in fact remained in the shadows of the room as if unwilling to be touched by the light.

"I'll be gone before daybreak, I promise. I just…I had no where else to go."

He nodded, feeling stupid even as he gave assent. He knew who this was, what she could do, had done. But something, perhaps the night, the surrealism of being half asleep, half waking made him nod again and ignore whatever doubts were still forming in his mind.

He pulled an extra blanket from a chest and left it on the couch, shrugging slightly as he left, never having spoken a word, as if speech would break the spell the night seemed to hold, and went back to bed.

He turned at the door, hand still on the knob and looked back, just once.

She stood still, looking lost and so young his heart ached to see such pain in her eyes. He wished for a moment that she would stay, that it would be within his power to keep her safe from the world, sheltered.

But then she moved, he blinked, and the thought left him like mist evaporating in the dawn, or the last remembrance before sleep.

Mike woke up, the sunlight now too bright to ignore and leisurely stretched, rubbing sleep from his eyes before leveling himself out of bed. Usually somewhat of a morning person--at least after a coffee or two--he felt particularly sluggish and tired today.

He was half way through brushing his teeth when he remembered why.

A knock on his door late at night, an unexpected guest…

He put down the tooth brush quietly, leaving the water running to mask his movements and carefully stole down the hallway and into the living room. Pausing at the last corner, he wondered what defense he might possibly have against magic before taking a deep breath and stepping into the room.

It was quiet, almost exactly as he remembered leaving it last night before going to bed. No strange visitors, no magical explosions waited to greet him.

Only a folded blanket and a small piece of black charcoal resting on the coffee table were the only signs that she had been here at all and that it wasn't all a dream.

_To my dearest Ms. B. and Ms. J. Who taught me how to write, encouraged my fledgling drafts and ideas, and struggled through innumerable spelling mistakes and cramped scrawled writing, and HATED when stories ended with "it was all a dream"._


	33. Chapter 33

Blood Ties Blood Bond: Epilogue

Blood Ties Blood Bond: Epilogue

Vicky stretched back in her chair, hearing her neck crack from the uncomfortable angle that it had been at most of the afternoon while scanning through files on the newest case she'd taken. God, would people never learn that forgery and embezzling was a crime?! Just because she couldn't arrest them anymore didn't mean that she couldn't get proof to people who could.

She sighed, standing up and pulling her coat of the hook. It had been one hell of a long day…a long week too when she thought about it actually. With all that had happened it didn't seem like only a few weeks since everything had hit the fan with Christina…and Jay.

Jay had been missing nearly 17 days now. Henry hadn't stopped searching but there was no trace of her. Not like Vicky really expected that there would be. After all, who was better at not being found if she didn't want to be then a witch? She'd turn up sometime, Vicky was sure of that, although she couldn't quite say how she was so certain. The only question was would It be as a friend or a foe?

Her confidence didn't stop Henry from looking though. He felt responsible, tied, bound to the girl, almost. It was strange seeing that change in him. Unexpected and almost unwelcome. She'd gotten used to having Henry to herself.

Things had been off since then. Between her and Henry. Mike too when she thought about it, but in the ensuing weeks, there had been too many other concerns to occupy her thoughts that she'd pushed that particularly unwelcome knowledge away. Her ever growing bills and expenses on the office and at home were almost at the dangerous point and she'd been trying to catch up. Which meant working late almost every night to keep the foreclosure sign off the door.

"Come on Coreen! Let's call it day," she called, pulling on her coat and searching for her keys to lock up.

Coreen stuck her head around the corner, leaning into the back office a mischievous glint in her eye that made Vicky pause.

"Do you have time for a walk in?"

"Do they look like they can pay?" She had bills piling up but without some sleep, she'd flounder her way through tomorrow like a rookie their first day on the beat.

A kid no more then 16 pushed through the door behind Coreen, cap, straggly long hair and oversized jacket proclaiming his age as assuredly as a look at his drivers license. If he had one.

"I can pay Miss Nelson."

She skeptically looked him up and down, not taking off her coat just yet.

"What can I do for you?...ummm…Mr. Wilson steal your ball?"

He shook off her sarcasm like someone much older, holding out his hand.

"Name's Lee, rep on the street says you handle crazy cases?"

Vicky smiled, mirthless. Her new found reputation proceeded her it seemed. Was it too much to ask for just a few normal cases? Some adultery maybe? Did all of her cases have to be filed under S for Strange and Supernatural.

"Uh, I don't mean to be rude," she said, glancing past him at Coreen and seeing if she could save herself from yet another alternative label. The last one hadn't turned out that well. "Do your parents know you're here?"

"No, don't matter," he answered smoothly. "I'm an emancipated minor."

"Ah." She rolled her eyes. "Another triumph of our legal system."

"Look, I'm going to lay this out straight," Lee said, all pretense forgotten. "You guys need to help me find my wife."

Vicky stared at him, then looked back at Coreen, who seemed to be as dumb-struck as she was! Here we go again, she thought.

"Man!" she said. "I had my coat on!"

Here officially ends Blood Bond, the first fan fiction that I've ever written. Please leave some comments, I'd love to hear what you think!

Much obliged to writer Denis McGrath for the (unauthorized but much appreciated) borrowing of his lines from "We'll Meet Again".

I have plans for after Deep Dark Ep. 22, but God only knows when I'll find the time to write the ideas milling around in my head down onto paper! Thanks for bearing with me and keep watching for a sequel to Blood Bond!


	34. Note on New Story link

_Okay, so there were some alerts on this story so here's the link to the continuation! Blood Ties: First Blood!_

_Check it out and please comment!_

.net/s/4783960/1/Blood_Ties_First_Blood


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